


A Monster's Nature

by phylos



Category: Brightburn (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2020-03-13 04:35:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 39
Words: 93,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18933508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phylos/pseuds/phylos
Summary: What is a girl to do when she realizes that the only thing keeping a superhuman boy her age from destroying the world is the fact that he's attracted to her?





	1. His Visit

He was here, in her bedroom just like she had known before. He was holding a handful of flowers. She looked from the flowers to him and back, gaping.

She was about to call for her mother when he whispered, "don't scream."

She was barely holding in her tears, but she still managed to ask, "What are you doing here?"

"I brought you flowers," he said with a blank face.

She gaped at him some more, trying to find words and failing. At least it seemed like he didn't come to harm her again so she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and was finally able to speak again, "why?"

He frowned slightly, which oddly helped to calm her further, at least he did seem to have emotions.

"Because you're nice, and you're pretty," he said.

For a moment, she was again at a loss for words, but she had had enough. She waved her cast at him and whisper-yelled, "you broke my hand!"

He looked at her cast, seemingly noticing it only then, and when he looked back at her eyes and she could've sworn she saw a flash of red in them. He whispered again, his face again blank, "you let me fall."

"Because you broke into my room!" Her voice was rapidly increasing in volume, "and you're doing it again!"

"Don't. Scream." He punctuated, and again his eyes turned red, only this time they stayed that way. That did manage to shut her up and brought the tears back. She might have been dreaming so she subtly pinched her thigh with her good hand. Nope, she very much felt that.

He looked at her cast again and frowned, his eyes coming back to normal. After a few seconds, he said, "I shouldn't have harmed you."

She just kept looking at him and said nothing.

"I got angry and couldn't control my strength," he admitted.

She set her eyes on her cast with a frown of her own. " _How_ did you break it? How are you so strong?"

She looked back at him only to see that his eyes were again red. He walked towards her desk and nonchalantly picked it up with his empty hand. She stared at the display open-mouthed.

"You must not tell anyone," he said after putting her desk back down.

"Why? How? _What_ are you?" She asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

He looked at her for a long moment. If it weren't for his stoic expression, one could've said that the question had been rude and hurtful. She had to suppress a smirk.

"I'm... not from here," he said, "I crashed into the woods near my parents' house in a spaceship."

It was official, she had gone insane. "I'm having delusions, aren't I?"

In a blink, he was in front of her, his face only inches from hers. It was all she could do not to scream, and instead gasped loudly.

"No," he said, and he slowly raised his hand and put it in front of her face, touching her forehead, her eyes and her cheeks. She was paralyzed in fear, but she sure felt his hand on her.

"Don't," she muttered.

"Don't what?" He asked, still moving his fingers all over her face and her hair. He was only focusing on his hand's movement and it was difficult to tell if he'd even heard her.

"Don't stand so close," she whispered, almost choking on her tears.

He finally lifted his hand and looked at her. His lips curved downwards, clearly displeased, but suddenly he was again standing a couple of feet from her bed. She could finally exhale and looked at his eyes, but he was only looking at her and seemed in no hurry to talk.

"You..." she cleared her throat. "You are fast."

"Yes."

"Is that how you got into my room?" At this point she was just trying to break the horrible silence.

"Yes."

"Why?" She asked, looking down at her closed laptop, no longer having the strength to withhold his stare.

"Because you're nice..." he started.

"And I'm pretty, yes," she snapped. "You could've told me that at school."

"Why?" It was his turn to ask. She looked back at him to see him frowning, he did seem to be genuinely confused.

"What do you mean?" She asked, again unable to form any other words.

"My father told me that it was ok if I liked girls and that there was no problem if I did something about it," he answered.

"But... but that doesn't mean you can break into my room!" She exclaimed. He glared at her and she shut back up.

"Why not?" He asked again. "I can do it without anyone seeing me."

"But it's... it's not normal!" She said.

"I'm not normal," he countered. "I'm better."

She had no answer to that. By all appearances, he _was_ better than other people. He was still a creep, though.

"Nobody likes strangers breaking into their room," she whispered, looking back at her laptop.

"We're not strangers," he pointed out.

"Well, no, but we barely know each other and you never asked for permission."

He didn't say anything after that and she dared to look at him again. He was only staring at her in confusion.

"Permission?" He finally asked.

"Yes," she answered.

"Why do I need permission? I'm superior."

"Because that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want!" She exclaimed, though this time careful not to raise her voice.

He mulled over it for a moment  before saying, "I don't care, nobody can stop me."

She glared ad him before wiping the tears from her eyes and snapping, "so what? Are you going to kill people?"

He seemed deep in thought before speaking again, "if I have to."

"What do you mean?"

"The ship I crashed in talks to me," he whispered. For once, he seemed to be the nervous one, "I'm supposed to 'take the world'"

"Ta... take the world?"

"Yes."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know," he had finally stopped looking at her, and now was staring at the floor, his eyes moving erratically.

"What do you want?" She asked after another too long silence.

He raised his eyes back at her. He seemed not to know what to say either.

This was too much. She hugged her knees with her good arm and buried her head on her legs, she whispered, "Why me?"

"Because you're nice and you're pretty," he repeated.

She felt like throwing something at him, or asking him if he was a parrot. Eventually, she settled on, "there are other nice, pretty girls at school."

"I don't care," he said, suddenly sounding much closer. She quickly lifted her head and sure enough, he was standing next to the left side of her bed.

He was staring at her, but there was something different about his expression; it looked not unlike how her mother's boyfriend sometimes looked at her mother. She immediately blushed and looked away.

"You... you... _like_ me?" She asked, looking at anywhere but him.

"Yes," he said, it seemed like he struggled to get the word out.

"But, I... don't like you," she said, still trying not to look at him.

No sooner she got the words out as the lights in her room started to flicker rapidly and she could've sworn she felt the house itself shaking. She looked back at him and his expression was one of horrible fury, he had closed his fists -twisting her flowers in doing so- and his eyes were not only red, but shining brightly.

Almost on instinct she grabbed his arm and yelled, "stop!"

He reacted to her touch by looking at where her hand was grabbing his arm, his eyes stopped shining -though they remained red- and the flickering stopped. He seemed like he was finally able to speak again, "you don't like me?"

For a moment she could only look at him with her lips trembling, even her arm was still shaking despite gripping him tightly. What was she even supposed to say? If she told him no again, he might be able to destroy the house.

She looked down, at her cast, and then raised her arm to wave it at him again. "You broke my hand."

"I already told you I shouldn't have," he said, shaking his head once with a grimace.

"But you still did it," she mumbled. At least his eyes had become green again, so he was far less scary.

"Fine," he said, then his face went blank and he stated, "I'm sorry."

It was obvious that he was lying and that he was not really sorry, but she was far too tired to contradict him. "It's fine," she lied, "but it doesn't matter anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"My mom told me not to talk to you," she whispered, looking back at him.

Sure enough, his eyes flashed red again and he walked away from the bed.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"To fix it."

"To fix what?" She whispered.

"Your mother," he answered looking back at her. Once again his expression was blank.

"What are you gonna do?!"

"I won't let anyone get in the way," he was already at the window.

"No, please, wait!" She exclaimed.

He turned to look back at her, to see her crying. He was going to hurt her mother, what could she do? What could she do?

"Please, don't hurt my mom," she cried, "I... I will still talk to you, I won't tell her anything."

He was still next to the window, his expression not revealing whether he believed her or not. After a long moment, he asked, "you promise?"

"Y... yes," she choked out.

"Stop crying," he said, his eyebrows frowning again.

She took a few deep breaths and finally managed to calm herself. As soon as she wiped her eyes, she saw him sitting on the bed next to her feet. He wordlessly handed her the twisted flowers and this time she took them. He looked at her in expectation, and she looked back at him, her forehead creased. He looked down at the flowers and then at her, and she followed his gaze before pursing her lips for a split second.

"Thank you," she whispered, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

And to her surprise, and for the first time since he came into her room, he smiled. "You're welcome."

The little energy she still had was quickly leaving her, and her eyes were almost closing by themselves now. "I'm really tired."

He just looked at her, but this time he did seem to understand her meaning. He nodded, stood up and walked towards the window but, before she could breath a sigh of relief, he turned back.

"Can I sleep here tonight?" He asked.

Her mouth dropped open, "what?"

"I want to stay here, and you told me that I still needed to ask permission."

"I... I..." for what seemed like the tenth time this evening, she couldn't articulate.

He frowned again, "you want me to leave?"

"No!" She whisper-yelled, whatever the case, she knew by now that it was better not to tell him no. "It's just that we don't have a guest bedroom."

He looked confused for a moment but then, once again to her surprise, smirked. "No, I meant here in your room."

She blushed deep crimson, "that's... that's not... that's rude."

"Rude? Why?" He asked and she blushed even more at noticing that he was _teasing_ her.

"I mean, that's... that's not what we should be doing. My mo..." she stopped short at his sudden change in expression. "Someone might talk."

"Nobody will see me leave," he countered.

"The bed is small?" She asked more than said. It was obvious now that she wasn't going to win this one.

"I don't care," he said with another smirk.

"F... fine," she said, scooting over to the very left border of the bed.

In a flash, he was on the bed next to her, making her jump slightly. She was going to have to get used to him moving like a bullet.

She put the laptop on the floor and lied down, trying not to look at him even though she knew he was staring intensely at her. Ultimately, she couldn't resist looking in his direction and, as if on cue, he brought his lips on top of hers in a short, closed-mouthed kiss, she closed her eyes at the suddenness despite herself.

"Good night," he whispered.

"Good night," she answered.

She turned, giving him her back, and lied on her good arm. This was a mistake, as he didn't miss his chance and snaked his arm below her cast, hugging her to him. She shuddered all over her body at his closeness, but dared not say a word. After what seemed like hours, and long after his breathing had stabilized, she finally did manage to fall asleep.


	2. His Presence

She woke up with a start and immediately turned around to look at the other side of the bed. It was empty, and she heaved a sigh of relief as she turned back around. She was ready to go back to sleep when she noticed the twisted flowers lying on her bedside table, making her small smile disappear as quickly as a light going off. What happened last night did happen, it wasn't a dream or some insane delusion.

She sat up abruptly and looked around and, not seeing anything amiss, she lied back down and stared at the ceiling, quietly going over everything that transpired the night before.

A while later, she yelled out loud, "Mom?!"

"Yes?" Her mother replied from downstairs and she let out another sigh. "Do you need help with the bath, honey?"

"No, mom," Caitlyn answered. "I'm fine."

"Alright. Hurry! You'll be late for school."

After showering and dressing, being careful of her cast, she walked downstairs to have breakfast.

"Did you finish all your homework last night?" Erica asked.

"Oh... Hmm... Yes?" Caitlyn stammered.

Her mother clearly didn't buy it for a second. "Caitlyn, you know that if you're having trouble keeping up, you can tell me. I'm sure that Gwen and Michelle can help you out and, if they're too busy, I can pitch in too. None of this is your fault, it's all because of that little freak..."

"I'm fine, mom," she interrupted, trying not to look around in case he was near and eavesdropping. "I just got a little behind on an essay, but I'm sure I can complete it during recess."

Her mother looked at her with an eyebrow raised but, after a moment, she smiled. Her mother trusted her, thank God. "Alright, sweetie. But still, remember that..."

"It's not my fault and you can help. Yes, I know," Caitlyn repeated with a smile of her own, before finishing her toast.

Later, she was sitting near the front of the bus, looking out the window lost in her own thoughts, when she felt someone sitting next to her, much earlier than usual.

"Huh? Mich..." She said, turning around, and then quickly shut up when she saw Brandon staring back at her.

"Hey," he greeted, a small smile dancing on his lips.

Instead of saying hi back, though, she quickly looked around the bus, hoping that no other kid had noticed him. There were only a few others, none of whom were paying any attention to them. Finally, she looked back at him and whispered quickly, "what are you doing?!"

He frowned. "Going to school?"

She glared at him. "Not that, you weirdo! What are you doing sitting here?!"

His eyes flared red at the insult, but she really didn't have much time to be scared of him at the moment.

"I can sit wherever I want," he spat, though he kept his volume thankfully low. "And I want to sit next to you."

"Please," she begged. They were approaching Michelle's street. "If my friends see me with you, they will tell my mom. Please, please, can we keep it a secret? I swore I would still talk to you, but they wouldn't understand. Please."

The bus was slowing down. "You care more about them than about me?"

She almost blurted out the obvious 'yes', but of course that wouldn't fly with him. "It's not that, it's just that I need time to adjust, and I'm sure they do too. One day I'll tell them. Just please, give me some time!"

He looked at her with a frown, but when the door opened, he stood up and walked to the back of the bus. He was quickly replaced by Michelle, who had been staring at her phone the whole time.

"Hey," Michelle greeted, her eyes not leaving her phone.

"Hey," Caitlyn answered, looking back out the window, though every now and then she glanced over her shoulder to catch him staring back at her.

"Hey guys," Gwen greeted as she got on the bus, sitting behind them. "Did you guys finish that English assignment?"

"I couldn't," Caitlyn replied. "I was actually hoping that one of you could help me out with it."

"I haven't finished it either," Michelle informed. "But sure, during recess we can do it together."

"Cool," Caitlyn and Gwen said at the same time.

During the day, Caitlyn noticed Brandon trying to approach her several times, but she always looked away and subtly shook her head. Every time, he seemed slightly angrier at her rebuffing, but it's not like she had any other choices. At the end of the day, she was walking out of her Spanish class with Michelle when she noticed him one more time. She quickly looked down at the floor and shook her head, making sure that Michelle didn't see her. Michelle, for her part, was too busy glaring at Brandon, as if daring him to try something. Brandon, however, just kept walking without giving any indication of having noticed them, though he was frowning and his lips were pursed.

"He's such a creep," Michelle said once he was out of earshot.

Caitlyn just smiled at her friend as they walked out of the school. Once they met with Gwen by the buses, Caitlyn spoke. "Hey, can any of you guys help me out tonight? I don't think I'll be able to do my biology homework on top of everything else I gotta do. I need to do a model over some ecological thing I don't even remember."

Michelle looked doubtful, but Gwen spoke up. "Sure, I think I can help you out. I have a lot of homework too though so I can't stay long, but I think we can get started on that model. My dad could drop me at your house around six, is that alright?"

Caitlyn smiled as they sat in their usual seats. "That's great! Thank you so much."

"I'm sorry," Michelle said and she did look genuinely regretful. "I would help you out too, but I have ballet practice today."

"No worries, really," Caitlyn said, smiling at Michelle. "My mom could help me, I just didn't want to bother her tonight."

Around five in the afternoon, Caitlyn was going through her Spanish homework, trying to translate some sentences. She wasn't having much success and was ready to text Gwen to ask her what she wanted to eat when she heard tapping at her window. A shudder went down her spine but she ignored it as she slowly placed the phone back down. Taking slow steps she went to her window and moved the curtains, but there was nobody there. Frowning, she opened the window and looked around, still seeing nothing. She was about to close the window when she saw the two orbs of red light in between the trees. She gasped, but then closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

She gripped the window frame tightly, fighting with the desire to close the window anyway and ignore him. Ultimately, she let out a sigh and walked away, leaving the window open. Sure enough, a second later he was climbing through it.

"Hey," he said, walking toward her. He handed her the new set of flowers he was carrying, yellow ones this time. "For you."

She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, but still took them. "Thank you."

He only smiled at her, saying nothing. After a moment, she looked at the window. "Why didn't you just come in like last night?"

His smile dropped, and he answered slowly, "you said I needed permission."

She blinked once. "Oh... Well, thanks."

He smiled again but, instead of saying anything, he walked over to her and kissed her lightly. She took a step back after he moved his head away. "You can't stay long."

He frowned, and his eyes flashed red. "Why not?"

"Gwen is coming later."

"Fuck's sake," he muttered. "I can't talk to you in school and I can't talk to you here?! It's a school night, can't you have a sleepover some other night?"

"You're such a jerk," she said before she could stop herself. "She's coming over to help me with homework, not to have a 'sleepover'. In case you didn't notice, I can't do my own work very easily."

She was waving her cast at him like she had done the night before, but this time he grabbed her injured wrist. She gasped, and her eyes widened at seeing his hand on hers again. Before she could scream, though, he moved her hand back to her side and let her go. She shuddered and unconsciously grabbed her cast with her left hand.

His eyes were flashing red when he spoke. "Don't insult me and stop reminding me of what I did. I already said sorry for it."

She was trembling all over, so the best that she could manage was a nod.

"Call your friend, tell her not to come over," he ordered.

"But I just told you, she's going to help me with..."

"I'll help you," he said, already moving toward her desk.

"What?"

He turned back to her with an eyebrow raised. "'Smart guys end up ruling the planet', remember?"

She gaped at him before smiling, despite herself. "Can't argue with that."

They sat down to work, and he actually managed to make most of the model done in just a couple of hours, though it was clear that his freakish speed was helping him; sometimes his hands moved so fast they were a blur.

"Slow down!" She exclaimed when he started going quickly again.

"Why?" He asked, still focused on the work.

"If the teacher asks me how it was done, I want to actually answer, you know?" She said. "If I can't answer that, she'll believe someone else did it for me."

"She wouldn't be wrong," he pointed out, cutting some more cardboard.

"What's the point of you helping me if I'm just going to get bad grades or in trouble?" She asked in a huff. "Besides, it might end up looking too much like yours."

He finally lifted his eyes and looked at her. And then he kissed her.

"Why did you do that?" She whispered when he turned back to the book they were consulting.

"Do what?"

"You know..." She really was trying not to blush, and not succeeding. "Kissing me."

"I like it..." He paused an looked at her again. "Don't you?"

 She looked from one of his eyes to the other. She chewed on her lip for a moment before answering, "can't we... I don't know... be friends?"

"We are." He was still looking at her with complete concentration. So much so she started fidgeting with her good hand.

"I mean... Friends don't kiss..." She whispered.

"You don't want me to kiss you?" His eyes flashed red, but for such a split second it was difficult to actually tell it had happened.

"It's not that... It's just... I don't know..." She stammered, averting her eyes.

"What?"

She sighed. "I don't know, I'm just not sure..."

"Do you like it or not?"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed. "It's not... awful... But... But... I don't think I should be doing that with..."

"With?" He prodded, his lips set in a thin line.

"With... you," she concluded, still averting her eyes.

She then felt a rush of wind and looked up to see he wasn't there anymore. He was climbing out the window.

"What are you doing?!" She asked.

"Leaving," he said, though he did pause.

"Wh... Why?" She asked. "Where are you going?"

He looked back at her, keeping a leg out the window. "Doesn't matter."

She felt herself tearing up. "This has nothing to do with my mom."

"Who said anything about her?"

"I'm just telling you."

He sighed, and looked out the window. "Look, I already said sorry, what else do you want from me?"

"It's not just that..." She started, before closing her mouth again. She should probably let him go, if he wasn't going to harm her mom, frankly it was better for her if he left her alone.

"I'm not just 'smart', I'm powerful, and I will take this world. I shouldn't even have to apologize to you, Caitlyn." His eyes were red, though he was still not looking at her.

She opened and closed her mouth several times, going over his words without making any sense of them even if they sparked her fear. After a moment, she cleared her throat and spoke. "Aren't you going to help me finish it?"

"What's the point? You don't like me near you, maybe you should call your friend after all."

She breathed deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. "Gwen wouldn't come at this hour, and I didn't say that."

"Then what was the 'shouldn't' thing from earlier?" He finally looked back at her. Even as she looked at him, she saw his eyes slowly go from red to green.

"Just that, that I shouldn't. It doesn't mean I wouldn't." She paused and her eyes widened at her own words.

She saw a smile tugging at his lips. "So you want me to kiss you?"

She quickly looked away, again trying not to blush. "I didn't say that either."

"Then what are you saying?" His tiny smirk didn't falter.

"I'm..." She paused. "Can't we just be friends?"

"Fine, we can be friends," he said, walking back into the room, toward her. "But I'll still kiss you."

And he did.


	3. His House

"You know? You don't have to steer me around, I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own," she said.

She might as well have talked to the floor for all the good it did her, because he gave no sign of having even heard her. He kept staring straight ahead—at his house—still wearing the same self-satisfied smirk and his right hand planted firmly on her lower back. God, it wasn't like she was going to run away at this point, his house was in the middle of nowhere and the school bus had left already, so she was pretty much stuck here for now.

She looked at the house, it was perfectly normal, if maybe a bit bigger than her own, displaying the benefits of having two parents. For all her bravado, though, every single step was costing her quite a bit of effort, and the house seemed to loom over her. Everything could happen with his parents now and her mother was sure to find out.

"Are you sure you want your parents to know?" She asked, trying to slow down her pace slightly with no success. In fact, he just pushed her with his hand and made her walk even faster.

"To know what?" He asked, glancing at her.

"You know, about... I don't know, us?" She really wasn't helping her own case.

"What's there to know? We're just friends," he said, his smirk becoming more pronounced.

She huffed while he opened the door. She hadn't taken two steps inside when she heard a voice coming from her right, probably from the kitchen.

"Brandon, is that you?" It was a woman's voice.

"Yes, mom," he said but before he could guide her towards the stairs, his mother came out from the kitchen and saw them. Brandon, for his part, turned them around so they were facing his mother. He _was_ very much steering her around, and she resisted the urge to huff.

Mrs. Breyer stopped on her tracks looking at her. She could only blush when she saw that the woman was looking at her son's arm, whose hand was quite visibly still planted on her lower back.

"Ca... Caitlyn," Mrs. Breyer stuttered, looking from her to her son. "What are... How have you been?"

"I've been good, Mrs. Breyer," she answered, looking at the floor.

"How's your hand?" Mrs Breyer said, glancing her son's way for a split second. Caitlyn also spared a glance his direction and noticed that he was no longer smiling, which in turn made her look back at the floor. He was getting annoyed and that was never fun.

"It's much better now, Mrs. Breyer. The doctor said that I can write again, though it still hurts a bit when I try to exert it too much," she said while raising her hand and showing it to his mother.

Mrs Breyer took her hand in hers and she felt a slight shudder when the woman traced her finger over the nail the doctors had put under her skin to guide her bones. Or maybe the shudder was because Brandon hadn't removed his gaze from her hand, and his frown was deepening.

His mother let go of her hand after a moment and smiled at her. "I'm glad that you are feeling better..." She hesitated, but continued, "now may I ask, what brings you here?"

She opened her mouth but Brandon was the one to speak.

"Caitlyn got behind on her notes while she..." He stopped for a moment, made an annoyed face, and kept on, "couldn't write. I offered to help her catch up."

Caitlyn didn't miss that his mother looked taken aback at this, and maybe even worried. But if Mrs Breyer had any concern, she didn't let it show for long as she then became all smiles and grabbed the side of her son's face.

"I see, well that's very kind of you. That's my boy," she cooed.

Caitlyn, for her part, tried not to show her surprise at Mrs. Breyer deliberately ignoring _who_ was the reason she had fallen behind. It wouldn't help her to be rude, though it certainly didn't make her like Mrs Breyer any better.

"Does your mother know you're here?" His mother asked, turning back to look at her.

"Yes," she lied before he spoke for her again. "She said that it was fine as long as you were around to supervise."

She was trying her luck, and indeed she almost didn't even need to look at him to see the flash of red in his eyes. She always had to just accept whatever he said, so it was overdue for her to put him in his place, if only for a moment. And, how about that, she saw that his mother had also noticed the change in his eyes and had frowned at him for a second.

Caitlyn looked from Mrs. Breyer to Brandon with an eyebrow slightly raised, but didn't say anything else.

"I understand. Well, if you need me for anything, I'll be back in my studio," she said again in a cheerful voice, though her smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Thanks, mom," he said in annoyance and, despite Caitlyn's silent protest, pressed on her lower back again to make her walk upstairs.

His room was... messier than she expected it to be. There were scattered clothes and books here and there, the bed was unmade and there were also pieces of paper lying around.

"Well, at least you aren't controlling about everything..." she mumbled.

"Why did you say that?" He asked after closing the door.

She breathed deeply, steeling herself before turning to look at him. She put on her best smile and said, "why did I say what?"

He glared at her—though his eyes remained green—and answered, "that about supervision."

"I know my mother, and I think your mother knows her too. She wouldn't have believed that my mother would just be ok with me spending time with you," she explained.

He thought it over for a second and then just went to grab a couple of books from his bag. She breathed a slight sigh and followed him toward his desk.

"Let's get started then," he said after sitting on a folding chair he grabbed from his closet and offering her his desk chair.

She raised her eyebrows. Usually the first thing he wanted to do when they were alone was kiss her; he probably was in no mood for that after her talk of needing supervision to be near him. Figures. They actually managed to do a great deal of her notes in just a couple of hours, in grand part because he maintained the cold demeanor and didn't even react to her few attempts at making small talk.

"Hey, can we stop for a bit?" She said after they were done with math. "My hand..." his lips became a thin line. "... I'm a little tired."

He looked at her and, after a pause, said "fine."

She stood up to walk around his room only to stop short at noticing that it was now completely neat. He had stood up a couple of times while they were working, but she hadn't had the chance to lift her eyes from the books as he left her instructions. It seems he heard her mumbling before.

She turned back to look at him, only to see him staring out the window, giving his back to her. She rolled her eyes and sat down on his bed to look at her phone. There was a text from her mother.

**Erica: What time will you be home?**

"Do you think we will be done today?" She asked.

"Yes," he said without turning around. "You will be able to leave soon."

She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him. Before answering to her mother, she walked towards him and grabbed his shoulder. It was simultaneously surprising and not that she wasn't able to move him an inch, it was as if she had tried to move a stone column.

"What is your problem?" She asked.

"Nothing," he said, still not looking at her.

"Seriously? You're angry because of what I said to your mother? It's not even the worst thing I've said to you," she pointed out, trying to sound as annoyed as possible. It was one thing dealing with weird, controlling and superpowerful Brandon; bitchy Brandon she wasn't used to.

Slowly, he turned around. His red eyes were as unnerving as ever.

"No, you're right. I shouldn't be angry about that, I shouldn't be angry about anything. I remember that you never answered, that night, when I asked if you didn't like me, you just talked about your hand again. It's fine, you obviously don't and you don't want to be alone with me so, fine, I don't need this. I don't need you."

And then she found herself pressed against the wall, his hand on her throat and two feet above the floor. He was floating, actually floating somehow, and that realization was enough to make her ignore, momentarily, that her whole weight was resting on her neck. He might not be choking her, but it was becoming painful really quickly.

She grabbed his arm with both hands to give her neck some rest.

"What... what are you doing?!" She asked.

"If I have to take the world, I'm sure I'm not supposed to care about people. _Any_ people," he answered, still looking at her with furious red eyes.

She went over his words and glared back at him. "You didn't answer either, that night, when I asked what you wanted."

He didn't seem to be in a hurry to answer now, but a month and a half of his constantly pestering her and sleeping on her bed every other night were pretty good indicators of what he wanted.

Slowly, she lifted her left hand from his arm and put it on the back of his head and he allowed her to move him closer to her so she could give him a kiss. She felt his deep sigh at the same time that they slowly lowered to the floor, and she was careful not to break the kiss despite the movement.

Then her phone ringed with a new text. She gave a look at his, green, eyes before picking her phone up.

**Erica: Hello? Honey are you there?**

"It's my mom," she whispered.

"Tell her that you will have to stay tonight. There's much to do," he said, never removing his eyes from hers.

She blushed and whispered, "ok."

Indeed, they worked much more slowly after that, as he kept interrupting her at random for kisses. Sloppy, lips-closed kisses weren't the worst thing in the world so she humored him, but there was the possibility that he eventually might want to do more. Whenever they were watching a movie and a romantic scene happened, his arm got tighter around her, and sometimes he kissed her as if on cue, but he hadn't gotten particularly handsy so things weren't moving too fast for her. Yet.

"Honey!" His mother's voice came from downstairs after it grew dark, "is Caitlyn going to eat here tonight or should your father take her home?"

"Yes, mom, there's still a ton of notes to go through!" he yelled back.

Half an hour later, they were at the table.

"So, Caitlyn," Mr. Breyer said, "how's studying coming along? My son giving you a hard time?"

"No, no Mr. Breyer..." she started.

"Please, call me Kyle," he said.

"Ok, yes, Mr... Kyle," she continued, flustered. "No, Brandon is a great teacher."

"Is he now?" Mrs Breyer asked, smiling at her and his son. Brandon just smiled back and focused on his food.

"And what time should I take you home? How long do you think will be?" Kyle asked at nobody in particular.

"She'll stay here tonight," Brandon answered before she could. "We're gonna be done very late and she doesn't want to wake you up."

"Oh, it's really no trouble at all, Kyle..." Mrs Breyer started offering.

"No, really, it's fine, right Caitlyn?" Brandon asked while looking at her.

"Yes, it's ok. I'd rather finish today than remaining behind another day," she explained.

She didn't miss that his parents looked at each other shortly before looking back at her.

"I see, in that case I'll get you a sleeping bag, buddy," Kyle said.

"What for?" Brandon asked at his father. Caitlyn immediately looked down at her food, trying really hard to hide her blush.

"Well, for you to sleep, honey. You are not gonna let Caitlyn sleep on the floor, are you?" Mrs Breyer asked, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, no, of course not," Brandon said, his expression blank.

"There you have it, and it better _you_ use it, buddy," Kyle interjected. "Be a gentleman and leave the girl the bed."

"I shall," Brandon said, smiling at his parents at then at her.

"Thank you," she said after he looked at her for a moment too long.

"No problem," he said smiling again. On the corner of her eye, she saw his parents exchanging another glance, but they were not smiling.

In the middle of the night, she woke up feeling thirsty. She carefully lifted his arm as to not wake him and went to the bathroom. After coming back, she saw that he had turned around and was now facing the wall, still sleeping like a rock. Not feeling sleepy again yet, she walked back to where they had left her—now finished—notes, but saw that he had left a notebook of his on top.

She opened it out of curiosity, and right away noticed that it didn't have any writing, only sketches. Many pages had nothing but multiple weird symbols that, at first glance, resembled eights, but she looked closer to see that they were actually meant to be two Bs back to back.

"Brandon Breyer," she whispered, and continued going through the pages. Her hands increasingly trembling at what she saw in them.

Some pages didn't have symbols, but actual drawings. Some of them were innocent enough, like a boy wearing a red cape and hood flying around or the same boy hugging a girl with brown hair, but others were drawings of dead animals, other was the boy looking at the world, and there was something red connecting his eyes and the world, and the last drawing she saw was the boy atop a mountain of people, all of whom were screaming. She was going to close the notebook then, but noticed something more in the last drawing: far, in the background, there was the same brown haired girl looking at the boy and the mountain of people, and she was smiling.


	4. His Family

She woke up with the glare of the Sun hitting her square in the face. She winced and covered her eyes.

"Damn it, Brandon!" She whisper-shouted. "I've told you, close the damn curtains whenever you fly into my room, the Sun comes up right in front of my face!"

There was no response, and she turned around to shake him awake, only to hit empty space on her bed. He must've left during the night.

"Whatever," she mumbled as she stood up while rubbing her eyes. Only to see him right in front of her as soon as she removed her hand, and she was unable to suppress a scream.

"Caitlyn!" It was her mother, who must've been on the hallway. Before Caitlyn could recover, Erica barged into the room. By that point, however, Caitlyn was only seeing the slightly ruffled curtains, looking as if there had been a sudden breeze. "Are you alright?!"

"W... What?" Caitlyn stammered. Her eyes still fixed on the window.

"Honey," her mother said as she approached her, putting a hand on her face. "Are you okay? You're pale."

"Oh, I... I'm fine... I just saw a huge hornet hovering right on my window, but my screaming scared it off, thank God," Caitlyn lied after her breathing calmed down.

"Alright," Erica said with a smile. "Breakfast is almost ready, you can come down as soon as you get dressed. Do you have anything planned for today?"

"I'm not sure, I'll probably give Gwen or Michelle a call and see if they have plans," Caitlyn answered, but her mother was already walking out of the room.

After closing the door, Caitlyn exhaled. She didn't even need to turn around to say, "what is it with you and scaring people? You almost gave me a heart attack."

"I just went to the bathroom," he said, but she could hear the smirk on his voice. She glared at him—he was lying on the bed—and went to her closet.

"Am I about to get a show?" He asked, raising his eyebrows when he saw the clothes in her hands.

She blushed and gaped at him. "Are you crazy?! Get out of here!"

He frowned, but still stood up. "Hey, before I leave. Forgot to tell you last night and since you don't have plans..."

She raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

"My parents and I are going camping for a couple of days. Do you want to come?"

"Oh," she said, averting her eyes. "That sounds fun, but what if my mother wants to call someone to confirm? She's already asked me who 'Dana' is."

"I already have something for that, give me your laptop."

She frowned, but still turned her laptop on and logged in before passing it to him. He typed for a few seconds before passing it back to her. It was a social media account, with pictures and everything, of a girl named Dana Lang.

"You did this?"

"Yes, figured it'd be more believable if she had some presence on the internet."

She nodded, still looking at the screen. "But what if my mom wants to call or something?"

"I have that covered too," he answered with a smirk. He took his phone out and dialed before putting the phone on speaker.

A girl's voice answered. "Hi! This is Dana. I'm on a trip so sorry that I can't answer, leave a message!"

She gaped at his phone. "How did you do that?"

"By the magic of editing together a few voice clips and paying for a temporary number."

"Where did you get the money for that?" She asked, her eyes narrowed.

"It's only five dollars a month, and I have an allowance," he answered, looking at her in the eye.

"That's pretty clever..." She mumbled. "But anyway, are you sure your parents would like me there?"

"Why wouldn't they? You've been coming over for months. Have they said something to you?"

"No, no," she replied, shaking her head. "I just don't want to impose..."

"Don't worry, they like you. And even if they didn't, it's not like they can do much about it." He smirked again, looking out the window.

"What do you...?" She paused, closed her eyes in a deep breath, and continued. "Anyway, sure, I'd love to come over."

"Awesome, let's go then!" He said, standing by the window and extending his hands.

She looked from his eyes to his hands and back. "What exactly are you saying right now?"

"Ahm, that we fly to my house?" He asked, with a frown.

"What?!" She exclaimed, before looking at the door for a moment and lowering her voice. "Of course not! I've never even been on a plane, I'm not flying on your arms!"

He dropped his arms back to his sides, glaring at her for a second. "You're no fun. How are you coming over then?"

"By bus, like normal people! And after I've had breakfast. Go and tell your parents that I'll be going!"

"Fine..." He drawled, before walking towards her, giving her a peck on the lips and disappearing through the window, much like he had done when her mother opened the door.

"Caitlyn!" Her mother yelled. "Your breakfast is getting cold!"

"Coming!" She yelled back.

Two hours later, she was hurrying from the bus to the Breyer house as fast as her huge backpack would allow her. She knocked on the door, slightly winded. Of course, he would let her know if they were leaving without her, but he was also really unpredictable. After only a minute, his mother answered the door.

"Hi, Caitlyn! Nice to see you" Mrs. Breyer said with a smile.

"Hi Mrs. Breyer," Caitlyn smiled back. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting."

"Oh, don't worry, and remember, I asked you to call me Tori." Tori shook her head, extending a hand for Caitlyn to give her her backpack. "We are having lunch before leaving anyway."

"Oh, alright," Caitlyn said, shrugging off her luggage and handing it out.

"Brandon is out back with Kyle, can you ask them what they want for lunch, please?" Tori asked, already moving away towards the kitchen after leaving Caitlyn's bag near the door.

"Sure," Caitlyn said, going towards the backyard.

It didn't take long for Caitlyn to spot them, but she still stopped short when she noticed what they were doing.

Brandon and his father seemed to be fighting, except not really. Brandon was throwing punches towards Mr. Breyer's open hands. After each punch Brandon would stop and Kyle would speak.

"Huh," Caitlyn muttered to herself.

"... Alright, that was much better." Kyle was saying when she approached. "Strong, but this time hurt a lot less. You almost broke my hand before."

"I'm sorry," Brandon replied almost before his father stopped talking.

"Don't worry, I did tell you to hit harder," Kyle said with a smile, rubbing his hand. He then noticed Caitlyn approaching. "Caitlyn! Hey!"

Brandon turned to her too and smirked. Caitlyn ignored him. "Mr... Kyle, hello. Mrs. Breyer wanted me to ask you what you wanted for lunch."

"That's fine. We're pretty much done here, right?" Kyle said, ruffling his son's hair. Brandon dodged him, laughing. "I'll go over and give her a hand. You kids have fun, but not too much!"

"Dad, come on!" Brandon snapped, glaring at his father but unable to suppress a smirk. Caitlyn blushed and looked away, towards the barn. "Ignore him, he thinks he's funny."

"It's ok... I think." Caitlyn replied. "What were you guys doing? Sparring?"

"You could say that," Brandon answered as they walked back to the house, his father having already gone inside. "Dad says that we can never be too careful."

"Makes sense." She said.

"Indeed. Anyway, I'm gonna shower. Gonna wait in my room? I can put on a show for you." He raised his eyebrows at her.

She blushed again. "Ew, no! I'll wait down here, thank you very much."

Ignoring his laughter, she walked away from the stairs, going towards his mother's study. Mrs. Breyer was really good, and Caitlyn never missed a chance to go over her work. As soon as she walked in, she paused, however.

Mrs. Breyer's latest project was different to her usual paintings. While those tended to be more abstract, this one was clearer, though the red on black scheme still made it somewhat ethereal and confusing. To the left of the painting, far away according to the perspective, there was a raising figure with red eyes. At the forefront there were two other figures; the painting style didn't allow for much differentiation, but to Caitlyn they seemed to be a woman and a man. In between the red-eyed figure and the two other people there was a fourth figure, looking at the red-eyed thing with an arm raised. The fourth figure had its back to the couple, meaning that all three of them were facing the thing.

Caitlyn was staring at the painting, so transfixed that she gasped loudly when she heard a voice at her back.

"Oh Caitlyn, there you..." Mrs. Breyer said. "Oh, I see you've found my latest."

Tori hurried into the study and quickly stashed the painting away, careful to keep it hidden among her other works.

"That painting is... Different, Tori," Caitlyn choked out.

Mrs. Breyer stared at her for what felt like a minute before finally saying, "you think so?"

"Ahrm... Yes. I mean, I don't remember you ever drawing people." Caitlyn muttered as she looked down.

Tori waved a hand, as if dismissing Caitlyn's words. "Oh, that, I just wanted to try something different."

"... I understand," Caitlyn said slowly. "And what does it mean?"

Tori had a faraway look for a moment, before giving Caitlyn a rueful smile. "It's... complicated."

"The red eyes. They look like..." Caitlyn whispered.

"Brandon's?" Tori interrupted. "I suppose it would have been difficult for you not to know about him."

"So you do too," Caitlyn said, suppressing a smirk at having noticed it before.

"Of course, I'm his mother." Tori answered, glancing at  Caitlyn for a moment before looking out the window. "Has he talked to you about it?"

"He's said he's... not from here." Caitlyn said, avoiding Tori's eyes. "And something about 'taking the world'."

Tori's eyes widened slightly, but they went back to normal just as quickly. "I see."

"Does the painting have to do with him?" Caitlyn asked.

"In a way... I love my baby... I love Brandon, but..." Tori whispered, still not looking at Caitlyn.

Caitlyn fidgeted for a moment, until she was unable to stop herself. "But?"

Tori blinked once and looked at Caitlyn. "But nothing, I don't think it's anything for you to worry about. At least for now."

Caitlyn frowned at Mrs. Breyer, but ultimately shrugged and said. "Okay."

Tori smiled and walked out of the room while she said, "anyway, could you go and fetch Brandon? We ought to have lunch soon so we can arrive before dusk."

Caitlyn nodded and walked away.

That night, long after she had had canned beans and way too many roasted marshmallows for dinner, and Brandon's parents had gone to sleep while he had disappeared, Caitlyn found herself sitting a little away from the dimming fire, listening to music on her headphones whilst leaning on a tree, her eyes looking at the night sky without really seeing it. All she could see was the painting and the questions it brought.

She sighed and stood up, but she didn't walk to the tent Brandon had insisted they share, because just at that moment one of her favorite songs came up on the music app of her cell phone and she found herself picking up a dance, getting lost in the music. At least until an arm came out of nowhere and draped itself around her shoulders. This time she didn't scream, but only barely.

"Jesus Christ!" She exclaimed. "Stop freaking doing that!"

"I just wanted to join you," Brandon said, smiling at her. "Care to dance?"

"No!" She huffed. "You ruined the moment. Anyway, where were you?"

As response, he only beckoned her to follow him. They didn't walk far before they stopped in front of a tree.

"Look," he commanded, pointing at a spot in the tree. Carved there in burn marks was the same sign she'd seen in his sketchbook, the opposing Bs.

"How did you do that?" She asked.

"I have my ways." He said, his gaze remained on the symbol for a moment before he turned to her. "Come on, I really want to dance with you."

She sighed while disconnecting her headphones. "Fine."

She turned the volume in her cell phone low so the music wouldn't wake up his parents and then restarted the song. They danced for a long time. Well, neither of them was a particularly good dancer so it was more like they moved to the beat while being careful not to step on each other's feet, but by the end she found herself laughing, almost despite herself.

When she went to sleep, she no longer saw the unnerving red eyes from the painting, but just Brandon's green eyes and his smile. Without even noticing, her hand reached for his arm that was, as usual, circling her midsection and she fell asleep with her hand atop his.


	5. His Depth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here's the third and last chapter fleshing Brandon and Caitlyn's budding relationship a little more.
> 
> Happy new year! I'll finally get back to the present next.

Brandon was sleeping, but she was still awake, avidly reading everything she could about the fantasy series Brandon had showed her. He'd suggested they watched it over Christmas break, but she went ahead with the first episode and then couldn't stop, and was now on the third season. Even reading the books it was based on was very tempting, but the last fantasy book she read was way too weird and violent, with a protagonist that was a total Gary Stu. He actually was a lot like Brandon, only even more emotionless.

"What an ass, that's a spoiler," she huffed after closing the tab. That's what she got for reading about it instead of just watching it. Before she could put on another episode and connect her headphones, though, her old phone died even though it still had forty percent battery. It was doing that a lot lately.

Muttering about her bad luck, she set the phone down on the floor. Despite his insistence on her coming for "sleepovers", he still hadn't bothered to put a bedside table for her in his room. She was falling asleep after telling herself she'd nag him about that the next day.

That's when it started.

"Shikaro larem olen..." Came his voice from behind her.

"What?" She asked, turning around, only to gape at him.

He was still lying down with his eyes closed, but he had thrown his cover off and was rigid, with his arms completely still at either side of him. He looked like a corpse, except for the fact that he was talking.

"Shikaro larem olen..." He repeated.

"Are... Are you alright?" She whispered, her voice trembling a little.

His only response was repeating the nonsense, only his body started shaking all over. As carefully as she could, she stepped out the bed and slowly walked backwards towards the door.

"Shikaro! Larem! Olen!" This time he actually sounded strained, as if he were in pain.

She stopped when she was about to reach the door, took a deep breath while closing her eyes, and then walked back towards the bed.

"Brandon," she whispered, putting a hand lightly over his shoulder. When that didn't stop his shakes, she pushed him a little and spoke with a little more strength. "Brandon!"

Finally, his eyes snapped open and he sat up. His eyes were shining a bright red, and he was looking everywhere, disoriented. When he focused on her, his eyes slowly went from red to green.

After staring at him for a moment, she spoke, "are you alright?"

He stared back. "Yes. What happened?"

"You were shaking, and mumbling. Were you having a nightmare?"

"No... Well, yes... I don't know..." He mumbled, averting his eyes at last. "I was dreaming about... About..."

She frowned at him. "About?"

"About my ship. I heard it again," he said finally.

"Oh," she replied. She chewed on her lip before sighing. "Okay, I'm glad you're alright. Do you wanna go back to sleep? We could do something else..."

Instead of listening, he stood up, seemingly not having even heard her. She took a step toward him but he just walked past her, going to the window.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"I just have to do... Something, don't worry, I won't be long." With that, he floated out.

She tossed and turned on the bed for ten minutes before giving up. With a sigh, she stood up, put on her slippers and tiptoed out of the room and downstairs. She grabbed her coat and walked out, looking everywhere for him.

"Brandon!" She whisper-shouted when she was nearing the barn. After turning the corner, however, she just shouted.

There was a huge hole in front of the chicken coop, the door having been partly torn away, and all of the chickens, down to the very last one, were dead. Many of them had been gruesomely torn apart and there was blood everywhere. It was when she spotted a severed head with its eyes still open that Caitlyn had to look away, but not even that helped her keep her nausea at bay, and soon she found herself running toward the tree line and throwing up.

"Hey," she heard from behind her, and she jumped three feet off the ground with another shout.

"Jesus!" She yelled, and turned for only a moment to glare at him.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"No," she said after wiping her mouth. "Did you see what happened back there?"

He looked back at her with an odd expression, he almost seemed to be smirking, but his eyes were far away. "Yes, a wolf did it."

"A wolf?" She asked. "How do you know?"

"Dad mentioned that he'd read about a pack nearby. He said we should check the barn as often as possible."

"Is that why you left?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before he nodded. "They're cool, don't you think?"

"What?" She gaped at him again. "Of course not, what it did is horrible, they're dangerous!"

His half-smirk turned upside down and he actually glared at her. "Whatever, let's go back to bed."

About an hour later, she did manage to fall asleep, repeating to herself over and over that the culprit had, in fact, been a wolf. The alternatives were better left unexplored.

She woke up entirely too soon, to his hand shaking her shoulder.

"What?!" She snapped.

"Get up, we're going to be late," he snapped back. "And I have something for you."

"What is it?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Look."

She removed her hand from her face and took the piece of paper he was holding out to her. It was a drawing.

The color scheme was very much his usual red on black, but he clearly had gotten better at drawing faces. The boy and girl—or was it man and woman?—were recognizably Brandon and her, though drawn to more adult proportions. She chose not to comment on how he had drawn himself taller even though he was shorter than her—he wouldn't like that—because the drawing was lovely. He was embracing her as they looked at each other and then she saw that the background wasn't exactly a generic shading, it was actually his symbol drawn in bright red that faded into black with red fiery spots dotted here and there, with the two people superimposed on top of the line where the two Bs met.

"Wow," she mumbled. She looked up at him and saw him smiling. "This is beautiful, Brandon."

"Thank you, I've been working on it for a while."

"Well, thank you. Didn't know today was a special occasion," she teased with a small smile.

"It isn't."

"Then why the drawing?" She asked after carefully putting it inside her biology book.

He looked at her for a long moment with his lips pursed in a thin line. Finally, he said, "I finished it."

She held his gaze for almost a minute, trying to see in his eyes if he was thinking about the events of the night too. "Okay, thank you."

He pecked her lips and smiled again. "You're welcome."

Later that day, miss Keen had used Brandon's turn to present the latest assignment as an opportunity to give herself an impromptu free hour from her biology class. She'd disappeared twenty minutes ago while Brandon was, as usual, droning on and on about insects; right now going over his theories on the causes for the bees suddenly disappearing. His favorite was on how maybe there was a so far undetected increase in parasitic wasp activity, which was causing bees to be replaced by them. Well, it was actually hard to tell whether that was his favorite, because it was at that point where Caitlyn zoned him out too. She'd already heard plenty of it anyway.

"This might just be an example of natural selection at work, and maybe that means that worrying about the bees is pointless because they're _supposed_ to be replaced by a superior species..." Brandon was saying.

"Holy crap, Breyer," Royce exclaimed when there were only ten minutes left of Keen's... Brandon's class. "Will you shut up already?"

"I'm not done," Brandon replied in a monotone.

"What is it with you and bugs? Do you want to be stepped on like one of them? You just need to ask." That was Dale, to Royce and Royce's other cronies' chuckles.

"Could be true," Michelle whispered under her breath, and Gwen smirked from Caitlyn's other side. Caitlyn was looking down, her finger going over the drawing's edge, that was peeking out of her book a little.

"You know what? Screw this, I'd rather eat dirt than listening to this fuckwit anymore," Royce said, standing up and walking in between Caitlyn and Gwen's seats.

He fell down with a yelp, having tripped over Caitlyn's suddenly outstretched leg.

"Ow!" Royce whined before sitting up and glaring at Caitlyn. "What the hell, Connor?!"

She blinked once. "Oh, sorry, I only heard the part about your wanting to eat dirt."

The entire rest of the class, even Royce's buddies, laughed uproariously, and he only mumbled something as he hurried out the classroom. Caitlyn spared a glance in Brandon's direction, only barely catching the small smile he sent her way before his face was back to neutral. Thankfully, Brandon resumed his spiel, so it was easy for Caitlyn to keep her blush under control.

"What was that?!" Michelle asked after the bell finally rang and Brandon stopped his symposium.

"Nothing, I swear," Caitlyn said. At her friends' raised eyebrows, she continued. "I was only stretching a little bit because I was about to fall asleep. The douche was really boring me."

"Then what was with the comment?" Gwen asked.

"Seemed funny to me." Caitlyn shrugged.

"Oh, it was," Michelle said. "Well, see you later!"

As soon as her two friends disappeared on their way to their algebra class, Brandon grabbed her arm and pulled her into a bathroom.

"What are you doing?!" She protested as soon as they were out of any stragglers' sight.

"There was no one else in the hallway," he said.

"That's not what I asked! ... And I'm gonna be late for my art class!"

He only smirked. "I saw what you did."

She blushed and looked down. "Everyone did."

"Why did you do it?"

"He was being annoying. Felt like giving him a taste of his own medicine," she explained, still avoiding his eyes.

"Hey," he said, and she felt him putting a hand below her chin and making her look up at him. "Thank you."

He kissed her before leaning his forehead on hers, smiling contently with his eyes closed.

"You're welcome," she paused, chewing on her lip. She then spoke again, "hey, now that we have the time, Michelle and Gwen were asking me about my birthday the other day."

"What about it?" He asked as he lifted his forehead.

"Well... We always do a sleepover. You know, we watch movies and stuff..."

He only looked at her.

"Well," she said when the silence was stretching and she looked at the hour in her cell phone. "Are you okay with that?"

"You don't want to spend your birthday with me." It was a statement, not a question.

"It's not that. It's just... It's what we always do..."

He looked at her for a second longer, his expression not betraying any emotion even as he finally uttered a single word. "Fine."

"Fine?" She repeated.

He only nodded as he walked out of the bathroom. She frowned at the closed door before shrugging and following him out.

A few minutes later, she walked into her art class, apologizing for the delay. For her next project, she chose to replicate Brandon's drawing in her own style; it'd be a nice gift. Or at least it was until Mr. Olsen actually saw when she was working on the background.

"What are these supposed to be?" He asked, pointing to the random red spots. At first she was going to make them green instead of the red he used, but it wasn't quite right.

"I'm... not sure, actually," Caitlyn replied.

"They look a little like windows on fire," Olsen commented and Caitlyn gaped at her own drawing. "A little darker than your usual, Caitlyn."

As soon as he stepped away, she took Brandon's drawing out and saw that, indeed, the double B was actually around what looked very much like buildings with fire coming out of their windows.

"Good God, Brandon."


	6. His Eyes

It was her birthday and after dining and shopping with her mother, including a brand new phone, she invited Gwen and Michelle for a sleepover. They were staying up until the wee hours of the night watching scary movies and eating junk food. Right now they were watching one about witches.

"Oh, god" Michelle exclaimed and jumped a little at a gruesome scene involving a raven and the protagonist's mother.

"Jesus," Gwen said, covering her eyes. Then they both giggled a little in embarrassment and turned to look at Caitlyn, who was calmly eating popcorn.

"You're not scared?" Michelle asked, raising her eyebrows in shock.

Caitlyn looked at her, her hand raised in front of her open mouth with more popcorn. She paused like that, looking at her friend with a deer-in-the-headlights expression, "ahm, not really?"

"Look who's all tough all of a sudden," Gwen said, throwing some candy at her.

"You bet. I'm thirteen now, practically a grown up," Caitlyn mocked with a sweet smile in Gwen's direction. All of their birthdays were, at most, a couple of months apart, but she wasn't about to waste the fact that she was technically the oldest.

"Yeah, right," Michelle said, focusing back on the movie. "You used to scream the loudest, I bet it is that you already watched this one."

She hadn't; she was just enjoying her popcorn and the movie was actually really good, even if not scaring her. Frankly, she now found it a little difficult to be scared by pretend witches and spirits when her own life had been haunted by a supernatural creature of sorts for almost a year now, and it was specially difficult to be scared tonight because she hadn't missed that he was close. She wasn't stupid, she had almost felt his watch all through the night and the two times a movie had ended, she had walked to her window while the next movie started, and both times she saw his red eyes from between the leaves of the nearby trees. His way of letting her know he was there.

When they arrived at the climactic scene in which the girl talks to the demon, Gwen spoke again, "Would you guys do it?"

"Do what?" Michelle asked, trying to drink a soda while keeping her eyes fixed on the television.

"You know, go with the devil if he asked," Gwen elaborated.

"Hmmm," Michelle thought it over, "I don't know? If I had had it as hard as this poor girl, maybe?"

"Well, I totally would," Gwen said with a mischievous smile, "seems like it could be a good time. What about you Cat?"

She didn't answer, spellbound by the movie. Her focus only broke when she noticed her eyes were slowly filling with tears.

"Hey, Caitlyn!" Gwen repeated and turned to look at her, only to frown when she saw Caitlyn wiping her eyes. "Hey, are you alright?"

Michelle was now looking at her in concern too. Caitlyn quickly finished cleaning the tears and then smiled, "yes, yes I am alright. I guess the movie got me at the end."

She then laughed nervously, but Gwen and Michelle were still looking at her weirdly. She cleared her throat and then spoke quickly, "anyway, what were you asking?"

Gwen arched an eyebrow, but decided to humor Caitlyn's change of subject, "... only if you would go with the devil if he asked."

That's exactly what she was trying not to think about. Finally, she could only say, "I... I don't know."

"You guys are boring," Gwen whined, but perked up immediately. "Anyway, what do we watch next?"

"I don't know," Caitlyn said, making her way back to the window, "you guys choose."

As soon as her face was on the window, his eyes flashed again on cue. She smiled despite herself and subtly waved at him, causing his eyes to flash again a little brighter. She giggled a little.

"What are you doing?" Michelle asked from behind her.

She quickly turned around, "What?"

"I asked what were you doing," Michelle repeated, now standing next to her at the window.

"Nothing," Caitlyn lied, looking back out the window. Michelle did the same, frowning as if trying to see what Caitlyn was seeing.

"You're acting really strange, you know?" Michelle said. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes, totally," Caitlyn said a little too fast.

Thankfully, Gwen rescued her. "Ok, found something about werewolves! Let's watch this one!"

"It's not twilight, is it?" Michelle asked, finally diverting her attention away from Caitlyn.

"No, it's not twi-light," Gwen replied in a mocking tone, "I think the girl is the werewolf, actually."

"Fine," Michelle said, leading the way back to puffs scattered around the floor in front of the screen.

They watched for a bit, but the movie seemed to be more about some creepy old guy keeping a girl locked in his basement than about werewolves.

"You sure this is about monsters?" Caitlyn asked. "Seems like a documentary about a serial killer or something."

"I swear that the app mentioned werewolves in the description, look!" Gwen defended, showing her phone to them. Sure enough, the description mentioned werewolves.

"Fine, let's see if this gets better," Michelle commented.

Soon after that, the girl got rescued by cops and was taken in by the girl cop, whose younger brother was introduced shortly afterwards.

"He's kind of cute," Caitlyn said without thinking.

"Ewww," Michelle and Gwen chorused, almost on instinct, but then they all giggled.

"I mean, he is not bad looking," Caitlyn defended.

"You sure are acting like a grown up," Gwen teased, but then laughed again and agreed, "but yes, he kind of is."

"You guys are creeps," Michelle said.

"So you don't find any guy cute?" Gwen asked.

"Come on, guys, we're twelve!" Michelle exclaimed, but she was blushing furiously.

"I'm thirteen! Can I find a guy cute?" Caitlyn joined in the teasing.

"Shut up," Michelle said and tried to focus back in the movie.

"You didn't answeeer," Gwen chimed in in a sing-song voice.

"Leave me aloneeee!" Michelle replied in a similar tone.

"I take that as a yes," Gwen concluded, and then laughed aloud. "What about you, Cat?"

Now it was Caitlyn's turn to blush. "No, not really..."

"Oh. My. God." Gwen punctuated. "You do! Who is it, is it someone from school?"

"No!" Caitlyn exclaimed, but that only got both her friends to laugh again. "I swear, I don't like anybody!"

"Oh gosh!" Michelle exclaimed, taking her opportunity to get back at the teasing, "Gwen didn't say anything about 'liking', she only talked about cute guys!"

"I did!" Gwen agreed, "so who's this crush of yours, miss Connor?"

"Leave me alone!" Caitlyn yelled, trying to stop her blushing.

"Come on, who is it?" Michelle prodded, and then mocked "I know! It's Royce, isn't it?"

"The fat kid?! No wonder you're embarrassed!" Gwen said in between uncontrollable laughter. "Didn't know you liked bigger boys!"

"No, it's not Royce!" Caitlyn said and then bit her tongue.

"Oooh, but it _is_ someone in the class!" Both Gwen and Michelle said at the same time. It was amazing how their brains seemed to have connected in their desire to torture her.

"Come on guys!" She was mortified, "can we just focus on the movie?"

"Fine, fine," Gwen said, but both she and Michelle spent the next five minutes naming random kids in the class. Even a couple of girls, after which they giggled even more.

"Brandon Breyer?" Gwen suggested.

Caitlyn tried her hardest not to let her face betray any emotion, and thanked inwardly at Michelle cutting in, "come on Gwen, that's not funny. That creepy weirdo broke her hand."

"You're right, you're right," Gwen apologized, and she did sound genuinely sorry. "That was too much. I'm sorry."

"It's ok," Caitlyn said, "but can you stop now?"

"Yes, sorry," and they did stop after that, and Caitlyn let out a sigh.

When they arrived at the love scene, Michelle spoke again.

"Gross," she said while eating the now cold popcorn.

"Are you talking about the popcorn?" Caitlyn asked.

"No, about the movie," Michelle explained while rolling her eyes.

"And are you saying that about their doing... _that_ at all or just because she's becoming all furry-like?" Gwen asked with a smirk.

Michelle blushed again, but still answered, "both, but mostly the second one."

"Yeah, it's kind of weird," Gwen agreed.

"What do you think, Cat?" Michelle asked.

Caitlyn had to resist the urge of rolling her eyes at their insistence in knowing her opinion about everything.

"I don't know," she answered. "I mean, if they like each other..."

"And you know all about _liking_ , don't you?" Gwen teased.

"Oh come on!" She whined. "I'm serious! Who are we to judge?"

"So you don't think it's weird?" Michelle asked, staring at her.

"I don't know, I'm only saying, if you like someone, maybe what they are doesn't matter..." she said. She tried not to dwell on whether she was talking to herself or to her friends.

"Wow, look at you all romantic all of a sudden!" Gwen said, looking at Michelle with raised eyebrows.

"You guys suck," she said and threw some popcorn at Gwen while trying to stop her blushing.

After the movie was over, she went to the window once again.

"I'll pick the next one," she heard Michelle saying, "that last one wasn't scary, it was just weird."

"Fine," Gwen huffed.

She stood at the window for five minutes but this time she didn't see his eyes at all. He had probably gone to sleep, and she found herself pouting at that before shaking her head and walking back to her friends.

"Ew," she said as she sat back down in front of the screen, "I heard about this one, isn't it only a gore fest?"

"I don't know," Michelle said, "let's see at least."

"Ok," she said with a sigh.

"You ok?" Gwen asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"I don't know, you walked to the window like you've been doing all night, but came back looking as if the trees had insulted your mom or something," Gwen explained.

"Yeah, what is it with you and the trees today? I saw you waving before," Michelle cut in.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about," she said, focusing on the television to avoid looking at either of them.

"Maybe she's gone crazy," Gwen said to Michelle, now acting as if Caitlyn wasn't right there.

"Shut up," Caitlyn mumbled.

"Or maybe she's keeping the secret guy tied to one of the trees!" Michelle offered and then burst out laughing.

"Oh, wow, wouldn't that be a story," Gwen said, laughing too.

"Can we just watch the movie?" She implored.

"Maybe we should go and investigate," Gwen suggested. "The poor boy must be cold."

"No, please don't," Caitlyn said. The possibility of their finding him was nil, unless he wanted them to, which was very unlikely. Still, she'd rather not risk it.

"What? Didn't you say you weren't scared anymore?" Michelle said.

"I lied, I'm totally scared," Caitlyn said, a little too fast.

"Liar, you're hiding something in those woods," Gwen said, but she wasn't overly serious.

"Yes, like... Wolves!" She spoke, trying not to smile.

"What?" Michelle asked, no longer laughing.

"You know there are wolves in the area, right?" She elaborated.

"No, I didn't," Michelle said.

"Neither did I, are you sure?"

"Yes," Caitlyn answered, and nodded for good measure.

"Then what have you been looking at outside?" Michelle asked.

"Nothing! I swear, I've just gone to stretch and see something besides the tv," she said, putting on her most honest smile.

"Fine," her friends said in unison, but there was no telling if they had believed her or just gotten bored.

Both Gwen and Michelle ended up falling asleep during the middle of Michelle's movie, and she followed suit shortly afterwards, but the last thing she saw while looking out the window was his silhouette floating outside, causing her to fall asleep with a smile.


	7. His Purpose

She was working on a biology assignment, trying to make sense of the huge wikipedia entry she was reading just now, but so far everything might as well be mumbo-jumbo. She was about to leave it for now and focus on her english assignment instead when she heard him.

"Hey," he said from behind her.

"Jesus Christ!" She exclaimed, having jumped out of her desk chair.

He looked at her with a slight frown, evidently confused since this was far from the first time he surprised her like that, but she only huffed and averted her eyes. She walked past him and sat on her bed, pointedly not looking at him.

As usual, he didn't seem to be in a hurry to say anything so she cut the silence, snapping "what are you doing here?"

He made an annoyed face and began, "It's my bir..."

"Your birthday, yes I know," she interrupted, "what does that have to do with me?"

"What?" He asked, growing visibly angry. "You don't care?"

"Should I?" She asked, now looking at him, "you haven't talked to me since mine, almost two months ago. Even in school you disappear in between classes and at recess."

His anger subsided at her outburst and now he looked confused again. Finally, he only said "and?"

"'And?'" She repeated, "that's all you are going to say?"

"You seem angry," he pointed out.

"Oh geez, no shit Sherlock," she said, "aren't you going to at least explain why you've been avoiding me all of a sudden? I mean, avoiding me in person, don't think I don't notice that you still float around the house some nights like a freaking ghost."

She crossed her arms and once again looked at the wall, opening and closing her mouth several times before chewing on her lower lip. She'd actually kind of enjoyed having some space back to herself, and yet she was about to snap; she was a second away from just screaming at him. Maybe even hit him.

"For your birthday you said you wanted to be alone and with your friends more," he said, and his glare clearly showed what he thought about those words. "I still don't understand _why_ you would prefer your friends over me, I'm actually special and they're not, but you did say that."

"And you took that as meaning that you should avoid me all the time?" She asked, glaring at him.

"No, but I thought I might as well use some time to think," he said.

"Think about what?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"Everything," he said.

She only looked at him. When he didn't elaborate, she prodded "that's not an answer."

"Yes it is," he said.

She groaned and looked away again. After a pause, she continued "does 'everything' include me?"

"Yes," he deadpanned.

"And well?" She asked, still not looking at him.

"Well what?"

She cursed under her breath before snapping. "Well, what did you think about me?!"

"I want you to be with me," he said.

She then snorted, "and that's why you've been avoiding me?"

"No, it's just..." and he suddenly sounded nervous, causing her to look at him but he had turned around—giving her his back—and was now looking at the posters behind her desk, "it's confusing. I know what I'm supposed to do, but I don't know how my parents, how you, how it all fits..."

The creepy drawings she had seen that time in his sketchbook were still vivid in her eyes, but she didn't miss that he wasn't really explaining himself

"You know what? It's fine," she said, more to herself than to him, "I'm glad even. I thought that you had finally left me alone and now I could again do what I wanted. I can even talk with a couple of boys I didn't think to before..."

She'd made a mistake, that was obvious even before she finished speaking, but she just couldn't hold her verbal impasse on time. The light bulb of her room exploded violently, causing her to yelp, and he, very slowly, turned around to face her. His eyes were shining like red-hot coals and his closed fists were trembling. His face, though, was surprisingly blank, as if he was looking at a wall instead of at her.

"What did you just say?" He asked in a monotone.

"I... I didn't..." She couldn't actually get a coherent sentence out. She was trembling all over and any wrong word could make the situation much, much worse.

"Caitlyn, honey, are you alright?" It was her mother's voice, and she was coming closer.

He looked at her door and his face finally contorted into a snarl of abject fury. He wasn't going to hide this time.

"Yes, mom, I'm fine!" She said, her tone of voice weirdly high. She saw her doorknob twisting, "don't come in here!"

"Why not?" Her mother asked, "I heard something breaking and you were yelling..."

"Mom, please! I'm... I'm changing clothes!" She yelled, and that did stop her door from opening. "It's just that the light bulb went off and it startled me, that's all!"

"Oh, alright, sweetie," her mother said, "please remind me tomorrow of changing that light bulb, good night!"

"Ni... night," she said.

After they heard her footsteps going downstairs, Brandon looked at her again, all his anger focused now on her.

"Who are they?" He asked, his voice surprisingly still in a monotone.

"Who are... who?" She asked stupidly.

"The guys," he said.

"What... what guys?" At this point, she was just stalling, and trying very hard not to cry.

Suddenly a red beam shot from his eyes and left a burnt in the wall behind and above her head. She gasped loudly and had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from screaming, then she started sobbing openly.

"Please, please don't hurt me," she pleaded through her tears.

"Who. Are. They?" He punctuated, coming a step closer with every word.

"No... Nobody! I swear!" She said, also shaking her head.

"Bullshit," he spit, now standing in front of her.

"I swear, I was just... I was just..." A panic attack was just around the corner.

"Just what?" He asked, she dared not look up at him.

"I was just thinking aloud! I wasn't thinking of anyone!" She choked out, hugging herself and looking at his feet.

"So you want to look for other guys?" Something in the tone of his voice made her finally look up. Seeing a tear falling down his right cheek was more shocking than anything else that'd happened tonight.

"No!" She exclaimed, and then she stood up and hugged him.

"No," she said into his neck, "I'm sorry, I was just angry. It's just that I... I've missed you."

There was no point lying to herself, otherwise why would she had been that angry when she saw him? She had grown so used to his being around that having him suddenly disappear caused a hole in her life. A hole that shouldn't be there, that wasn't there before he imposed himself; but it was there nonetheless.

He slowly hugged her back, and they didn't say anything for a while.

"Happy birthday," she whispered finally.

He looked at her, kissed her and, leaning his forehead on hers, said "thank you."

He kissed her again, only this time she felt him opening his mouth and noticed his tongue licking her lips, causing her to gasp and move her head back. He looked at her in expectation and then she gingerly kissed him again, opening her own mouth. She felt his tongue inside her mouth and at first she just stood there, but then her tongue started moving along as if on instinct, and the sensation was really nice, unlike anything she'd felt before. He made a sound at that. No, not any sound, he _moaned_ at that. She was really enjoying herself, even if the situation was a bit awkward because she was a couple of inches taller than him.

They made out like that for what felt like ten minutes, until she finally broke the kiss so she could breath.

"That was nice," she said, avoiding his eyes and blushing.

"Yes," he said. To her shock, he sounded out of breath too, but seeing his smile made it clear that he wasn't actually tired; he just didn't seem to actually believe she had given him a kiss like that.

"So, what now?" She asked, looking at each of his eyes. She didn't miss that they were still hugging and their faces were only inches apart.

"What do you mean?" He asked, still smiling.

"I mean, did you come to stay here tonight?" She asked.

"Oh, right. I actually came to show you something," he stated.

"Oh, what is it?" She asked, looking at his hands.

"It's not actually here, come," he said, walking towards the window.

"What?" She asked.

"What what?" He repeated, already having opened it.

"I've told you before, I really don't want to do that," she said, shaking her head a little.

"It's my birthday, and after what you said, you owe me," he stated. It was clear that he wouldn't take no for an answer this time.

"You swear that you won't let me fall?" She asked, slowly walking to the window.

"Please, I can lift you with a finger. Trust me, after today you won't ever have a reason to doubt how superior I am," he said, and then extended his arms.

"God. Fine," she said, and allowed him to lift her like newly married couples did in movies.

"Please, don't go fast," they hadn't even left the floor and she was ready to pee her underwear.

"I won't," he said and smirked as she buried her face in his neck and hugged him for dear life.

And just like that, they took off. She managed to resist until she was sure they were far enough from her house, then she screamed to her heart's content. She'd never even been in a plane and, not unexpectedly, flying like this with no sort of protection was _not_ her idea of a good time. The fact that he was holding her firmly and his arms felt as if they were steel cables offered very little by way of comfort.

Thankfully the flight was short lived and soon she found herself back on the ground. As soon as he let her go, she lost her dinner.

"That was awful," she said, wiping her mouth.

"I thought it was fun," he said and, to her annoyance, he was smirking. He was making fun of her.

"Not funny. Anyway, where are..." She looked around only to see his house fairly close, but they were actually in front of the barn, and there was a very familiar red glow coming from within.

"What is that?" She asked, transfixed.

He didn't answer and instead walked inside the barn; she followed without even needing to be told so. The glow was coming from all the way back, beneath the floor. He effortlessly opened the trapdoor and went inside. Goosebumps broke all over her body when the red light intensified, and she found herself undoing her steps, walking backwards. But a simple "come!" from him made her follow him down.

She found herself in front of... something. She couldn't really describe it, it looked like some sort of gigantic capsule, with multiple red lights that were shining intermittently. It was oddly reminiscent of a wasp nest, like the ones she'd seen in class, but with a hole in front of it.

"Is this your..." She began.

"Ship, yes. This is where my parents found me," he completed.

She stared at the ship for a while, and something about the situation made her squirm. Finally, she turned to look at him, and frowned. His eyes were red, but he didn't seem angry. In fact, he didn't seem to be feeling any emotion, he didn't even seem to be aware of where he was. He looked hypnotized.

"Brandon?" She tried. He gave no indication of having heard her, she didn't expect him to.

"Brandon!" She exclaimed, grabbing his arm.

He finally turned to look at her, but it was obvious that he wasn't really... there. It was strange, she couldn't describe it, but it was clear that something was happening to him. Then he grabbed her by the neck.

"Brandon!" She repeated, trying to open his hand, which was slowly closing around her neck.

"Take the world," he said slowly.

"Brandon, please! It's me, Caitlyn!" She pleaded, her voice barely coming out through her obstructed throat.

Upon hearing her name, something in him snapped. He let her go, fell to his knees and his eyes went back to green. She had dropped to the floor too, and was looking at him, careful not to make any sudden movement. Nobody said anything for a while.

"Are... are you ok?" She asked, massaging her throat.

He lifted his eyes. When he noticed her hand, he became concerned and asked, "did I hurt you?"

"You... You looked possessed all of a sudden and then grabbed my neck. And you were saying that 'take the world' thing," she explained.

He looked back at the ship.

"No!" She exclaimed, making him look back at her, "you've told me that your ship 'speaks' to you, is this what you meant?"

"Yes," he said.

"That doesn't seem good," she pointed out.

He looked angry now, "how would you know?"

She stared at him, "you just tried to choke me!"

"I... I didn't," he said, completely unsure of himself.

"What? So I just imagined it? Why?" She asked.

"It's... it's because you're in the way," he concluded.

"In the way?"

"Yes."

She couldn't say anything at first, but then she went over everything that had happened in the last hour. "This is why you've been avoiding me, it's the ship!"

He averted his eyes.

"I'm right, aren't I?" She would've smiled in triumph, if there weren't more important things to discuss.

"When I'm far, specially when I'm with you, I don't feel like listening to it," he whispered.

"And?" She asked.

"And what?"

"I don't know, it seems to me like listening to it might not be so great," she stated.

"You don't know anything," he stood up and walked away, not looking at her.

"You _want_ to listen to it, why?" It had been too long without understanding anything. She was due some explanations.

"Because I'm me!" He exclaimed, "I'm better! I'm special! Why not do what it says? I can do it, people are so inferior, I can play with them, I can do whatever I want, maybe I want to do it!"

He was frenetic, rambling like she'd never seen him ramble. Not even when talking about insects.

"You wouldn't understand. This... this power, all the time I'm not using it, I feel like I'm drowning! And from above everyone looks so small! The world looks like a playground, a... A canvas! To paint however I want!"

He stopped then. It seemed like that last thought had _just_ occurred to him and then he smiled, but in a way that was much, much more unsettling than any of his outbursts.

"Brandon," she whispered.

He looked at her still wearing the same smile and crazed eyes.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Because I knew that if you saw it, you would understand. Understand why I'm here, my purpose," he said, and then he was in front of her, looking from one of her eyes to the other and back, looking for something.

"Your purpose?" She asked.

"My purpose, my reason to be here. This is my world."

She really, really needed to be away from this place, but she still had questions.

"If your purpose is to 'paint' the world and if people are so small, why do you care?"

"Care about what?" He asked, still staring intensely at her.

"Care about me, about whether I talk to other boys or not like you asked before. Isn't it all the same to you?"

"Because... Because..." His eyes were finally focused again and he was no longer smiling. Now he seemed lost.

"And why should I care?" She continued, "if you're just going to do whatever you want with all of us, what is it to me? Isn't the end gonna be the same?"

"It's... different," he tried.

"Is it? I'm not different, I'm just like everyone else," she said, her shoulders felt really heavy all of a sudden.

"But, you could be with me. You _will_ be with me," he declared, his expression becoming hard again.

"Why? You don't need me, why haven't you done it? Why waste this year? You could've done it before," she said. She was just voicing random thoughts aloud, but now that she had said it, she noted that it was a good question.

"Because you wanted me to hide and I wanted to be with you, and I thought that that was alright, but I never understood. I understand even less now, why hide when everyone should hide from me?" He asked, seemingly more to himself than to her.

"Even me?" She asked. What was she even trying to do? He was either going to do it or he wouldn't, but she deserved to know what his actions would mean for her. What his drawings of the brown haired girl meant.

"No, not you... You should want this!" He exclaimed after a pause, it looked as if a new idea had came to him, "you would stand above everyone, next to me!"

"But I... I don't want anyone to die," she whispered.

"Why not? They don't matter."

"But, still..."

"See? You can't even explain it. Why care when they're below us? You don't even know them and you will be happy, you will have whatever you want!" He almost yelled, growing frenetic again.

_"Would you go with the devil if he asked?"_

She looked at him almost as intensely as he had been looking at her. Right now she could do something to prevent a disaster from happening to the world and a voice in her head told her that she should stop it. But there was also another voice, one that said that he was literally offering her the world, and he _could_ give it to her. Anything she wanted, she would get.

_But many people will suffer._

_But what is it to me?_

_It's wrong._

_Because everyone says it is, Brandon isn't everyone._

_But who am I to judge other people?_

_He is, he has the power to judge other people._

_He's thirteen!_

_So am I!_

"Brandon," she said finally, interrupting his rambling, "I... I want to leave."

"Fine," he said after taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.

She didn't scream on her way back home, too deep in thought to even notice the flight. After he deposited her on the floor and made to leave, she grabbed his arm.

"No, please, stay here tonight." Whatever he chose to do, at least it should be his choice, not his ship's.

"Ok... but I don't want to hide anymore," he said, his face and voice going back to normal now that he was away from the ship. Yup, definitely better to keep him away from that thing as long as possible.

"You mean in general or...?" She prompted.

"You and me. It's been a year; I won't hide anymore. It's up to you to deal with it, but I won't hide myself anymore from people I don't care about," he stated.

"What about your ship?" She asked.

"You didn't want to talk about it there. Maybe you still aren't ready to understand, but you will," he said, though again he seemed to be talking more to himself than to her.

"And until then?" She asked.

"I'll try to wait, but Caitlyn," suddenly he kissed her deeply like before—seemingly not caring at her having thrown up earlier—and added, whispering in her ear, "if I see you coming onto another guy, I _will_ kill him and his entire family."


	8. His Girlfriend

She got on the school bus with her knees shaking. She stood for a moment in front of her usual spot near the front, but then shook her head and kept on walking. That seat would be a no-no today; the route passed his house before any of her friends'. As childish as it was, she needed to take a seat next to someone, if only to delay the inevitable a little more.

She eyed the seat next to Dale then, slowing her steps for a moment. He wasn't even paying attention to anything, his face buried in some handheld console, and she exhaled and moved past him. The kid was a bit of a jerk but that was not nearly enough reason for him to die. She ended up walking all the way to near the back of the bus, where one of the quiet girls of the class—Marissa, if she was not mistaken—was sitting alone, listening to music from her headphones and looking out the window.

When she sat down, Marissa looked at her in bewilderment, but Caitlyn only smiled in return and looked ahead with a firm expression. After a couple of seconds of just staring at Caitlyn with a frown, Marissa just went back to look out the window, shaking her head a little. Caitlyn let out a sigh and smiled slightly. Good, she didn't need small talk, she only needed a shield, as awful as that sounded like.

Her stony mask didn't last until he even got on the bus, though. As soon as she saw his house in the distance, she hurriedly grabbed her backpack, took out the first book she got her hand on and buried her face in it, eliciting another weird look from Marissa because the book she was pretending to read so avidly was a book of mostly pictures for her art class. Marissa's judgment didn't faze her, though, she only needed to hide her face and hope that nobody would notice her blushing.

She felt his eyes practically burning holes through her book as he approached, and then he was standing right next to her. She was going to keep the childish facade of not having noticed him as long as she could, though.

"Move," he said.

She pursed her lips, but when she was about to lift her eyes Marissa avoided her the trouble by speaking first. Apparently he had addressed the other girl and not her.

"Excuse me?" She asked, sounding clearly offended.

"Move," he repeated with a touch of annoyance in his voice. Caitlyn nonchalantly turned a page over.

"Hey, kid, sit down!" The bus driver yelled as they were coming back to the high road.

Caitlyn raised her eyebrows slightly when Brandon did walk away... to sit right on the seat in front of her. She dared a look, and finally breathed when she only saw his neck; he was looking ahead instead of staring at her like he usually did.

"Geez... what an ass..." Marissa mumbled, causing Caitlyn to elbow her, "aw!"

She couldn't be sorry about hitting her, she didn't need anyone pissing him off right now. However, her little aggression backfired as Marissa only huffed, took her backpack, moved pass Caitlyn and went to sit in the other side of the aisle, all the time grumbling about how she was "sitting there first."

Not even ten seconds later Brandon was standing next to her again. Instead of looking at him, though, she stared at the driver, trying to will him into telling Brandon to sit again, but sadly he was too busy picking up the next kid. She didn't even need to be told anything; she calmly closed her book, put it back in her backpack and scooted to the window side. Why did he even want to sit next to her if he wasn't going to talk? It seemed that making a point of sitting next to her was more than enough for him, and she resisted the urge to cross her arms and pout.

Her cheeks slowly flushed again as they came to Michelle's street. She wouldn't be shocked if she was already sweating. Michelle climbed onto the bus not even taking her eyes away from her phone... that is until she got to their chair and, upon not noticing Cailtyn already sitting there, she looked around and her mouth opened into a perfect "O" when she saw Caitlyn and Brandon sitting together. Afterwards, Michelle practically slid into their usual seat and not even ten seconds later, Caitlyn's phone buzzed.

She closed her eyes, breathed deeply and looked at her phone.

**Michelle: What r u doing?!**

**Caitlyn: Nothing**

**Michelle: Y r u sitting with him?**

**Caitlyn: He sat next 2 me! What was I supposed to do? Kick him out?**

**Michelle: Y arent u here?!**

**Caitlyn: IDK, I wanted a change?**

**Michelle: OMG!! ... What if he breaks ur hand again?**

**Caitlyn: Thats not funny**

**Michelle: OMG this is huge**

**Caitlyn: Its nothing!!**

**Michelle: Yeah right he keeps looking at u and smiling**

**Michelle: And u look so red I could boil and egg on ur face!**

She didn't even bother to respond and instead just shot a glare in Michelle's direction, which was in itself probably a confirmation to her friend, who merely went back to tapping furiously on her phone. What was the point anyway? They were going to find out today at one point or another, Brandon would make sure of that.

When they arrived at Gwen's house, she practically bolted onto the bus—evidently having been informed already of the new development—and looked frantically all around. She mouthed an "Oh. My. God." as soon as her eyes landed on Brandon and Caitlyn and then she sat besides Michelle. It was actually kind of impressive because she never stopped staring at them and didn't even look in Michelle's direction, seemingly having been pulled to their friend's side by the magnetic force of gossip.

**Gwen: What is happening?!**

It was their group chat now.

**Michelle: IDK I cant process**

**Caitlyn: Guys pls**

**Gwen: Pls what? o.ó**

**Caitlyn: Dont give me a hard time**

**Michelle: A hard time 4 what. U said it was nothing!**

**Caitlyn: Pls lets wait till school**

**Caitlyn: Ill explain there**

**Gwen: U liar!**

**Michelle: OMG!**

She needed a break from the embarrassment so she just made a show of tossing her phone into her backpack while smiling her best "I'll kill you" smile to her friends, who were giggling nonstop. She then looked out the window and breathed deeply, trying to stop her face from looking like a tomato.

"Your friends keep looking at us." Brandon was being his usual captain obvious self.

"Does it make you uncomfortable?" She asked, trying a hopeless possibility, "it's not too late to keep acting as if nothing is happening."

In response, he only looked at her for a fraction of a second before she felt his hand on the back of her neck and brought her face near for a kiss. Before she could even try protesting, she found herself responding to the kiss almost despite herself. There were a few giggles and gasps around the bus, although the two loudest of course came from her usual seat.

"Hey! Knock it off!"

Caitlyn all but jumped back and buried her face on her hands. That had been the bus driver and she almost wanted to jump out of the bus, crawl into a hole and die. The fact that she noticed her phone buzzed for almost thirty seconds while she was trying to control her embarrassment helped her none. She finally planted her forehead on the window glass and didn't dare move or do anything else until the bus arrived at school; she didn't even bother to humor Brandon's few "hey"s.

She all but ran away as soon as the bus came to a final stop.

"Caitlyn, wait!" Gwen yelled, but she barely even heard her.

She finally made it to the girls' bathroom closest to the entrance and opened, only to yelp when she of course found him there already.

"God damn it!" She exclaimed, "how did nobody see you disappear?!"

"They were walking towards the school, I only walked behind the bus," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Please, please!" She pleaded, "just leave me alone a moment, this is too much!"

"I don't see what's your problem, it's not as if we were even the only couple in the class," he pointed out.

"You mean Tess and Adam? They don't even kiss! You smacked one on me in front of the whole bus!"

"So? I don't care if they want to act like children," he said.

"We _are_ children!" She all but yelled at him, but immediately put her hand on her mouth when she heard approaching steps.

"Caitlyn, are you there?!" It was Michelle.

She mouthed "please" at him and he was gone in a blink through the window. A second later Gwen and Michelle ran into the bathroom.

"Who were you yelling at?" Michelle asked.

"Him," she said, then added at their confused expressions, "you know, the phone."

"Oh, right," Gwen said, though she still tried to 'subtly' check the stalls.

"Ok, I can't wait any more!" Michelle exclaimed. "What was _that_?!"

"Can... can it wait until recess?" She sighed.

"No, it's ten minutes until first class, spill!" Gwen said, once she was sure there wasn't a boy with them in the bathroom.

"Yes, seriously, why him?" Michelle asked. "I thought you hated him!"

"And with good reason!" Gwen added.

She breathed deeply. This really was happening now so she might as well give them her cover story, "he never meant to break my hand. He's... strong, and he got too angry and didn't notice that he was hurting me until he already had."

"But how strong can he be?" Gwen wondered. "He's... lanky."

Caitlyn shrugged. She could tell them the truth, but that would only make her look like a crazy person.

"Don't know, maybe he has good bones," she said at last.

"So he told you that he didn't meant to hurt you and you... what? Jumped into his arms?" Michelle asked with a frown. She was judging her, which was not sitting right with Caitlyn.

"No, of course not," she snapped, more forcefully than she intended. Michelle blinked. "I'm sorry, but it's true. I didn't just 'forgive' him. It took a while."

"A while of what?" Gwen asked.

"Well, first he contacted me over social media," she had rehearsed this a lot. Now it was time to see how well it would hold. "Saying he was sorry over and over and asking if he could make it up to me."

"And then?" They asked at the same time.

"I ignored him, of course, but then he started talking to me here at school. While I was alone," she said when they frowned.

"He offered to help me with school work, with chores, with whatever. You guys remember how hard you had it while you were helping me with the homework and notes, right?"

They nodded.

"Well, you guys know that he's the nerdiest kid in the class so I thought I might as well get his help since it _was_ his fault. So I accepted his offer," she said.

"And your mom just let him?" Gwen asked, and Michelle nodded in agreement.

"No, my mom, doesn't... She doesn't know about him yet. Please don't tell her, I'll tell her soon," she pleaded.

They nodded and Michelle said, "well, continue! So you let him help you with homework, then what happened?"

"Come on guys, we'll be late for class," she said. "I'll tell you the rest of the story at recess."

"Fine," Gwen said, and they walked slowly to the english classroom.

He was in the back, next to the window, and looked at her as soon as they walked in. She and both Gwen and Michelle paused, all waiting to see where Caitlyn was going to sit. Caitlyn only rolled her eyes, took a deep breath and walked resolutely until the seat next to his, which she took. She tried to ignore both his smirk and her friends' giggles as they sat two rows ahead.

After the class, he insisted in escorting her to her spanish class, once again with his hand on her lower back. She was resolutely looking down, avoiding everyone's gaze and trying really hard not to keep blushing. To make matters worse, he was basking in the attention and whispers they were getting, his smirk only becoming more prominent with every step.

"You don't even have this class," she whispered when they arrived at the door.

"It's not like walking to the other side of school is a problem for me," he said and then, to her horror, she saw his face coming closer, but thankfully he went for her cheek instead of her mouth this time.

"You will eventually have to learn that they don't matter, only I matter. Better be soon," he whispered to her ear before walking away. His words, as usual, didn't make a lot of sense, but she didn't get enough time to dwell on them.

"Well, at least he does seem to be a gentleman," Michelle said, who of course had this class too and of course was right behind her.

"I'm going to be tormented all day by either you or Gwen, aren't I?" She asked as they walked into the class.

"Aw, you poor thing, you think it'll only be today," Michelle said with an almost pitying smile.


	9. His Persuasion

"Can I sit with Gwen and Michelle?" She asked him as they were walking away from the food counter.

He looked at her with an annoyed expression, "why?"

"I promised I'd explain it to them," she answered. "Please, it'll only be for today."

"Fine," he said with a frown and sat down in the first table he found.

She sighed and walked to her usual table where her friends were already waiting for her, smiling like hyenas.

"He doesn't look happy," Gwen said, looking behind Caitlyn.

"Not much I can do about that," she said, taking a seat with her back to Brandon.

"Why didn't you ask him to come?" Michelle asked, eyebrows raised. "We don't bite."

"Come on, this is already awkward enough as it is," she said quickly. The last thing she needed right now was Brandon scaring her friends or her friends angering Brandon. No, she'd keep them separate for the foreseeable future.

"Fine," Gwen said and then her wicked smile returned. "Well, out with it."

"Where was I?" She asked after another sigh.

"How his begging wore you down," Michelle said with a giggle.

Caitlyn glared at her, took a bite of her scone and then, after breathing deeply, spoke again, "anyways, yes, he started helping me out with school."

"But I never saw you together," Michelle said.

"At home," Caitlyn clarified.

"And your mother just let you hang out with him?!" Gwen asked, looking really surprised.

"No, of course not. I already told you, she doesn't know about him. _His_ home," she specified.

"And his parents said nothing?" Michelle asked.

"I guess they trust him," Caitlyn said with a shrug, causing both Gwen and Michelle to laugh.

"Sure, they trusted him to have his way with you!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Ew!" Caitlyn exclaimed, "no! what is wrong with you?!"

"Well, I don't know, you seemed very into each other in the bus," Gwen reminded, looking as if this was the best day of her life.

"Oh God," Caitlyn said, covering her face with a hand, "can I just get on with the story or are you guys going to keep making comments like those?!"

"Ok, ok, go on," Michelle said, though she was barely containing her laughter.

She glared at them again, but continued. "Anyway, yeah, so we first went to his house when my cast was removed, he was going to help me catch up on all notes. I also met his parents that day, they seem nice. Anyway, I ended up having to stay there that night..."

"Oh, my..." Gwen started.

"Don't!" Caitlyn interrupted her.

"Fine, but what did your mother think?" Gwen asked.

"As far as she knew, I was staying with the nerdiest _girl_ in the class, named Dana," Caitlyn asked.

"Who's... ?" Michelle started, but then realized the stupid question she was gonna ask. "Oh, right. But she never suspected anything?"

"He's, figures, really good at that stuff, he created all these fake profiles for 'her' and even a fake phone number in case my mother called," Caitlyn explained. "But she never did, I guess she trusts me."

She shot a warning glare at both of them after she practically saw the words _'yes, trusted you to have your way with him!'_ written across their eyes. They said nothing but did giggle again.

"Anyway, I started visiting frequently even after I was caught up with the notes. He's actually really friendly and his parents started to really like me. Some days I even went only to see his mother paint—she's really good, and she gave me some tips for art class—and sometimes I'd watch him and his father work around their barn. A couple of times I offered help but both times he told me he got it and his father laughed at his expression."

"Is that sexist or gentlemanly?" Gwen asked.

"Yes," Michelle answered.

"Anyway," Caitlyn continued as if they hadn't interrupted her. "So that continued, and thanks to his help my grades improved a lot, I'm sure you noticed. He gave me a lot of tips for studying and explained a lot of stuff to me. I still didn't really like him, but I no longer thought that he was a creep and truly believed that he didn't mean to hurt me so we started talking about stuff besides school.

"Even though he doesn't take art class, he likes to draw, and is actually really good at it, though he likes to draw creepy stuff but hey, as long as he keeps the creepy to the drawings, that's fine by me. We then started texting a lot and talking here in school too. In secret, I still didn't want anyone to think I had befriended the boy who broke my hand, and he was ok with it 'as long as he got to talk to me'."

"Aww," they said, causing her to blush a little.

"Then one night I was staying at his house we spent until the wee hours of the night playing a videogame he has, and after I finally beat him, he just kissed me. It was weird, but I didn't completely hate it, an he got this funny smiling face, as if he was drugged." She paused to gauge her friends' reactions at her first outright lie, and blushed when they only giggled. "I told him to warn me next time and to not get used to it, and told him I was still mad at him for my hand so that was it for that night.

"He started kissing me more and more often, though, and I didn't hate it so I thought it was just ok and didn't let it bother me, eventually I got used to it but I still didn't want to be his girlfriend. Besides the secret kisses, everything stayed the same, until one day when his parents invited me to go camping with them. I knew that that was pushing my luck with my mom, but I accepted at his insistence."

She stopped then, looking at nowhere in particular. Her mind lost in the memories of what she had talked with his mother that day.

"Hey, Caitlyn!" Michelle said, snapping her fingers in front of her face. "You went silent all of a sudden! Don't you think that you won't finish the story!"

"Yes, specially now!" Gwen agreed enthusiastically.

"Sorry, I was just trying to sort my memories out," she lied. "Anyway, yeah, that weekend I went camping with him and his parents and we... had to share a tent. Things were innocent enough, until he asked if he could kiss me and I said yes, so we spent most of the night kissing. _Only_ kissing," she emphasized with a look, "and fell asleep like that. The next morning I woke up and he was hugging me in his sleep. You know, when the girl is giving her back to the guy and he has his arm on her belly, like that," she explained with a blush.

"Ooooh," her friends cooed.

"That's called spooning, sweetie," Gwen explained.

"Yes, spooning, whatever. And it was... nice?" She said, "we slept like that for the rest of the trip, and by then I was thinking more and more about him. Still unsure if I liked him, but I did want to spend more time with him. Still, I told him 'no' when he asked if we could be officially boyfriend and girlfriend, and I still wanted to keep it a secret.

"Then late last year, before christmas break, he gave me a present before class: a drawing of him and me. It was really cute. I guess it was because of that drawing that I got really angry when Royce and his jerks picked on him like they always do."

"Oh, I remember that, you tripped him," Michelle pointed out.

"Yes, Brandon had told me that he doesn't really care about the bullies and he ignores them. Good thing for them, if he did mind, he could seriously hurt them," she said before she could stop herself.

"How..." Michelle asked.

"Oh, well, I told you already, he's strong. And his dad knows how to fight and has taught him. One day I saw them sparring and Mr. Breyer says that 'one is never too careful'."

"Did he teach you anything?" Michelle asked.

"No, it seemed like their thing and didn't want to intrude." Now that she looked back on it, it seemed very obvious that his father wasn't so much teaching him to fight as he was trying to get Brandon to control his strength. Brandon did seem to have a good handle on his powers and she wondered if all that was thanks to his parents helping him out.

"So, back to the love story," Gwen cut in with a smile, "so you tripped Royce, and?"

"I don't know, I got very angry at their picking on him, so I wanted to get back at them," she shrugged. "Brandon saw when I tripped Royce and his smile that time made me start thinking that maybe I did like him now, but I wanted to confirm it. But I couldn't: after christmas break, we couldn't talk much until my birthday, and after my birthday he just stopped talking to me. Not even over the internet.

"I got really angry at his just ignoring me so I stopped trying to talk to him after a week, but I was still really angry. Turns out I really missed him—don't interrupt me, I'm getting to it—but didn't know what had caused his change until his birthday last saturday, when he suddenly talked to me again. He apologized for ignoring me and explained to me that, on my birthday, he felt really bad at having broken my hand and since I had told him that I wanted to spend my birthday with you, he just thought that it was better if he just stayed out of my life."

"Wow, dramatic," Michelle said.

"Then why did he come back?" Gwen asked.

"I was getting to it," Caitlyn said. "Anyway, in his birthday he was really missing me so he talked to me again, asking if we could at least be friends. I was confused because I never told him I didn't want to talk again, so I made sure to tell him that I forgave him for having hurt me and then, well, he asked again if I wanted to be his girlfriend. And, well, as you can see, I said yes," she finished with a sigh.

She exhaled. It seemed that staying relatively close to the truth had worked well enough. Good thing too because keeping a ton of lies straight would probably be more than she could handle. She looked at her friends who were looking back at her and then at each other. After a moment, they both gave a little yell, making her jump on her seat.

"That was kind of very romantic," Michelle said.

"Well, it's actually less intense than I expected," Gwen critiqued, "but hey, that's more than I have so who am I to judge?"

"So Gwen was right!" Michelle exclaimed.

"Huh?" Both Caitlyn and Gwen said at the same time.

Michelle rolled her eyes. "When you mentioned Breyer as the guy Caitlyn liked in her birthday!"

"Oh, right, yes!" Gwen said with a smile.

Caitlyn chuckled and nodded, blushing again. All talked out, and with recess almost over, she actually dug into her food, stuffing her face. Gwen and Michelle followed suit, having been so engrossed in her story that they hadn't eaten either.

"And are you happy?" Michelle asked as they were walking to drop their trays.

Before she could stop herself, Caitlyn looked behind her. Of course, he was looking at her. He smiled and she smiled back.

"I think so," she said, turning back to her friends, who were smirking.

She tried to ignore the little voice wondering if that part was a lie or not.


	10. His Power

They were making out on her bed, while lying on their sides. She was actually enjoying herself very much, and even allowed him to flip her so she was suddenly lying on top of him, causing her to let out a small moan to her own embarrassment. However, as soon as she was on top of him, she felt two things: _something_ was very much pressing against her left thigh and Brandon's hand moved from her hips towards her butt.

She quickly broke the kiss but he must have misinterpreted her because he simply moved from her lips to her cheek and was going for her neck now. "Brandon," she whispered at the same time she grabbed one of his wrists.

Hearing his name finally broke him out of whatever daze he was in. He left her neck alone and leant his head back on the pillow; after blinking a couple of times, he finally focused on her "what?"

"Don't," she said, finally trying to move back on top of the bed. At first his hands on her butt seemed like clutches that wouldn't let her move, but he relented after a second. She looked back at him once she wasn't touching him and was not surprised at seeing him angry, his eyes red. He sure did not like being denied.

Before she could say anything, he grunted, and a second later he was walking out the door.

"Where are you going?!" She asked, shocked.

All the response she got was a glare from him before he walked out. She heard his steps towards the bathroom. Five minutes later he came back, and although his eyes were no longer red, he seemed to still be in a foul mood.

She was at a loss and asked, "what were you doing?"

He ignored her as he lied back on the bed, his back to her.

"Hey..." she said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Fuck! I was jerking it alright!" He exclaimed and to her utter shock, she noticed that his neck was red. This was the first time ever she saw him blushing. "I was _masturbating_. Just go to sleep!"

Now she was as red as he was, but opted not to say anything. She spent a long time just looking at the ceiling, wondering if there was something she could do because she was well aware that he hadn't fallen asleep either, but ultimately she couldn't think of anything so she just turned her back on him too and closed her eyes.

Once she woke up, the first thing she noticed was his eyes, red, staring intently at her. She ignored the usual shudder at the creepy color and simply said, "ok, why?"

"Why what?" He asked.

"Why are you staring at me like the boogeyman?" She averted her eyes and looked at the ceiling instead.

"I want to go." That was all he said, obviously he was in a mysterious mood today but it was too early for her to think.

"So do I," she said as answer and stepped out of the bed, quickly walking out the door and towards the bathroom. It was very early in the day so she was very careful not to woke her mother up.

After relieving herself, she came back to her room to find him sitting in the middle of the air, seemingly deep in thought. She almost couldn't remember a time in her life in which that would have been abnormal enough to give her a heart attack.

"Shouldn't you be heading home? Your parents are gonna notice you're out of the bed," she said.

"They already know that I sleep outside sometimes. My dad already talked to me about safe sex and everything," he said, still looking at nowhere in particular.

She tried to ignore the feeling of her insides twisting at the idea of Brandon and Mr. Breyer talking about Brandon possibly having sex with her, and instead went back to the previous topic while she sat on the bed.

"What did you mean earlier? Where do you want to go?" She asked.

"I don't know, somewhere far," he answered.

"... why?"

"I want to see how powerful I really am. I want to see if I have limits," he mused.

"And you need to be far for that?" She asked, but then realized. "Oh, right, everyone would..."

"See me," he completed, looking at her.

"I see, then yeah going far would be a good idea," she said.

"But now that you asked. Should I really care if I'm seen or not? They can't do anything to me, and this would be a great way to get started," he said with a huge smirk.

"Started with what?" She asked.

"What we talked when I showed you my ship. My purpose," he said.

"I still don't understand why you want to do that," she whispered, not looking at him.

"Because I'm better, I can do it, they have to know I'm above. That's why I was sent here!" He said back.

"But do you have to? Do you want to?" She asked.

"Yes, I want to. I can do whatever I want, and I want to do whatever I want," he said.

"But it's... it's not right."

"How do you know?" He asked. "Because you were told it wasn't? Well, I'm telling you it is."

"But people could die."

"People will die. They will try to go against me, and I won't have mercy," he said.

"But I don't want anyone to die," she stated.

"Why not? What is it to you? You have never been able to answer that," he asked.

"I told you, because it isn't right!" She exclaimed, but careful not to raise her voice.

"The fittest survive and the weak die, that's how nature works, and I'm the fittest. How can that not be right?"

She was starting to feel cornered. "But what do you get? I mean, you can already do anything you want, what's the matter if they refuse or not?"

"Exactly! What's the matter? I'm tired of pretending to listen to inferior people. It's... it's insulting. And I told you once, you can also do anything you want, as long as you're with me, why don't you want this?" He besought her, suddenly standing right in front of her.

"Look, you say you wanted to go, why change your mind?" She asked hurriedly, trying to change the subject.

"Because I was thinking of you and how you keep pretending that other people matter. But you got me thinking that there's no point to that," he suggested.

She still didn't know if there was any point in fighting it, other than it being the right thing she had been taught, but his words gave her an idea. She could at least try to distract him. "So you don't care about what I say?"

That stopped him in his tracks and he looked at her for a moment.

"Of course I care," he said very slowly. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be trying to show you that it's really best if you accepted what I can do."

"Ok, so show me, but me first. Not the entire world," she offered.

"Why do you care so much? Damnit!" He asked, seemingly exasperated.

"It's not just because it's right. What if they can hurt you? Wouldn't it be better for you to first learn if they can hurt you?" She asked.

He arched an eyebrow at her, "you keep on not answering."

"But how do you want me to answer? I'm pretty happy with my life as it is now, I don't need more. And I'm not you! I'm like everybody else, I don't know what's it to be 'superior' and I'll never know," she said.

"But you are superior," he stated.

"What? No I'm not..."

"Because you are with me," he continued as if she hadn't interrupted him. "As long as you are with me, people will have to fear you too."

"Why? What can I do to do them?" She asked, frowning.

"No, not you, me," he said as he knelt to be at eye level with her, he put his hands on her thighs. "They will have to, unless they want to deal with me."

She imagined herself then living in some palace, as a queen, with people worshiping her and doing anything she wanted. It was tempting, she had to admit. But still, people wouldn't just do that, they would resist and he'd kill them, she could live as a queen, but she didn't know if she would be able to live with herself it was at the cost of lives, probably many lives.

"But I don't want you to deal with them," she whispered. "I just want my life, as it is. I want you."

She added the last part in a stroke of inspiration. Maybe buttering him up will get him to forget, at least for now. She continued, "can you just want me?"

Not to her complete surprise but he stood up at her words, angry all of a sudden. He took a step back from her.

"You don't want me," he said.

"What?"

"If you did, you wouldn't have made me stop last night," he spat.

She blushed and looked down. "I'm... I'm not ready for that."

"Again, with those lame excuses," he said, his face cold as a mask. "We're sexual creatures."

"We're children!" She defended.

"No, we're not. Children don't produce sperm, children don't have periods. And, most of all, children don't become aroused, and I know you were, I felt you moaning."

She blushed furiously at his bluntness. "What are you saying?! No! Of course we're not ready for... for that! We're still growing and I don't want to deal with any of that yet!"

After a pause, he said, "fine, maybe you're not ready for that. But I wasn't even trying to have sex with you, I just wanted to touch you and you told me no."

"So what? Am I supposed to just do anything you want?" She asked, knowing she was not helping her actual goal.

"Yes," he said, his eyes suddenly an inch from hers.

"So you think I'm your slave," she whispered, looking away. "And this is why I don't see the point in your purpose, I'm just one of the many people you'll make suffer. The world is not perfect, but I don't see how attacking it will make it improve."

"Wait," he whispered. "So if I told you that I will make myself known by helping the world, would you be ok with that?"

She blinked two or three times at that. It wasn't a terrible idea. "Maybe?"

He seemed to be considering it himself. "I don't think why I would be concerning myself with helping inferior people, what's it to me? What's it to you? Why should I waste this in helping others?"

"It's not a waste!" She exclaimed. "Helping others is good, then they might help you when you need it."

"But I don't need their help. I don't need anything," he stated.

"Not even me? So, if... if..." She struggled thinking of something, then looked out the window. "So if I jumped out of this window and broke my neck, wouldn't you care?"

His eyes shone brightly and he turned her face to make her look at him. "Don't."

"Don't what?" It was her turn to ask.

"Don't say that," he choked out.

"Why not? You just said you didn't need anything."

"If you... If you... If you die," he seemed actually horrified at the mere thought. "I... don't know what I would do, all I know is that I wouldn't be able to control myself."

The intensity of his eyes on her was so great and his words so heavy that she had to resist a shudder. She really was important to him. Maybe she should just accept his offer, maybe he was right, maybe only they mattered. She looked at his eyes, one and then the other.

"Look," she said at last. "We're too young, what if you do try this and then regret it? Can you wait? Maybe wait until you're older to know that you truly want this."

"I do, the ship's voice is stronger every day," he said.

She knew it had something to do with the ship. "But you're saying it, it's the ship's voice, not your voice. Why don't you try to see if _you_ really want this?"

"It won't matter, I better do this soon before the ship's voice becomes all I hear."

"But you are superior, are you really going to allow yourself be controlled by a simple ship?" She congratulated herself for that idea, even if it didn't work.

"And what do you want me to do? Destroy it? I won't," he stated.

"Why?"

"And what about you? What if when you're older you regret not having answered now?" He asked.

She didn't have an answer to that, but his reaction earlier had given her different ideas. "Because I told you, I'm happy and only want you. If when I'm older I want more, I'll let you know."

"And if I don't want to wait anymore?" He asked.

"I can't stop you, but if you truly cared about me, you'd listen to me."

He looked away then, seeming annoyed with himself and with her.

"Fine, but then I want you to come with me," he said with a smirk.

"Where?" She asked.

"Like I told you, I want to see if I have limits, I want you to come with me to some remote place," he replied.

Well, it was better than having him attacking random people or whatever it was he planed to do.

"Ok, where's it and when should we meet?" She asked.

"Oh, we're going right now, I'll go pick some stuff from my house and will come here to pick you up," he explained with a small smile.

"What? But my mother, no. Wait," she pleaded.

"Well, better convince her that you're going camping this weekend or whatever, or you want me to tell her?" He asked, his smirk growing.

"No, it's fine, I'll get ready I guess," she conceded.

After he was gone, she knocked on her mother's door.

"Yes, sweetie?" Her mother asked after opening her door, visibly groggy from sleep.

"Gwen and Michelle invited me to go camping this weekend. Michelle's father just had the idea and she thought it could be fun."

"Oh, sure honey," her mother said as expected. With her grades being so good lately, her mother was more than happy to let her have fun every now and then. "Do you want me to help you pack or something?"

"No, I got it, you should go back to sleep. You still look tired," she said with a smile.

"Totally. Have fun honey," her mother said before closing the door.

She went about packing a change of clothes and some food, she took a shower and then waited. About ten minutes later, he came through the window, carrying a huge backpack and, to her shock, a shotgun.

"What are you doing wit that?!" She asked, feeling herself going pale.

"It's mine, my uncle gave it to me for my birthday, and I want to use it," he said.

"And your parents just let you take that?"

"No, they don't know I took it. They only know I'm going camping," he answered with a smile.

"And you have money to go? I don't have much..." She started.

"We don't need money, I packed food," he said.

"So did I, but how are we going to... wherever it is you want to go?"

"Flying," he said and before she even had time to protest, she was in a bridal carry and flying out the window. She could barely keep herself from screaming.

They flew for what felt like an hour, long after she had stopped screaming and had gotten tired of keeping her eyes closed. She still didn't like this, specially with a shotgun next to her, but she figured that she could at least check the view if she had no choice. The view seemed far less enticing than on tv, her fear of falling to her doom preventing her from truly enjoying it.

"Will it be too long?" She asked.

"I don't know," he replied.

"What?"

"I didn't have a place in mind," he commented. "I just wanted somewhere remote, and there are roads or houses everywhere. Even in the middle of forests."

He wasn't wrong, guess that finding a remote place in the USA was easier said than done. Finally, he settled on a mountain's base that seemed remote enough for him.

"Alright, this place seems good enough," he said after letting go of her. "Time to get started,"

And sure enough, and to her complete shock, he stripped until he was in his underwear.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm gonna test my limits, the clothes would just get ruined," he said with a smile.

"Ah, I see, so... how are you gonna do this?" She asked.

He thought it over for a second and then said, "let's start small. Hit me."

"What?" She asked.

"Come on, it's fine."

"Alright..." and she hesitatingly slapped his chest.

"Alright, now hit me as if you meant it," he said, he looked really excited, his eyes shining. "But careful, you could break your hand."

"I don't really..." She started.

"Imagine I killed your mom," he said quickly.

Well, that sure motivated her. She punched him in the chest and in his face, but nothing happened. He didn't react, not even to close his eyes, and there was absolutely no mark.

"Alright, now hit me with a rock," he instructed.

Nothing. In fact, after three tries, the rock shattered. They tried multiple different things and all gave the same result.

"Cool, now shoot me," he said.

"What? No!" She exclaimed.

"Come on, you know it won't do anything!" He said with a laugh.

"I don't even know how to use that thing!"

He nodded and then loaded and prepared the gun, then showed her how to hold it and how to stand. She unsuccessfully tried to ignore the fact that he was nearly naked and very close, but still managed to grab the gist of how to shoot the thing.

"This thing is heavy," she protested.

"It won't take long," he said and then stood in front of her, almost at point black range.

"Alright, shoot!" He said and she pressed the trigger.

The explosion of the gun almost made her drop it and left her ear ringing. Nothing, not even a white mark on his skin. Brandon crouched and picked something up to show it to her. It was a crushed bullet.

"Amazing," she said.

"Indeed I am," he agreed. "Alright, now cut me."

He took a knife from his backpack and gave it to her. She really didn't like doing this, but she knew he'd be fine so she ran towards him knife extended and the thing just bent upon impacting on his neck.

"Alright, I wish we could test explosions, but I guess this'll do," he said and her mouth dropped at seeing him take out gasoline and matches from his backpack. He poured the gasoline on himself and passed the matches to her.

She immediately backed away, shaking her head. "No, I won't be doing that. One thing is resisting hits, burns are another. If it turns out you can be burned, it won't be me who did it. No."

He looked at her deep in thought, then a small smile curved his lips. "Ok, fine."

He lit one match and, staring at her, dropped it on his head. He lit up like a bonfire, but in between the fire she saw that he wasn't moving at all; it was pretty clear that he wasn't burning, so she breathed a sigh of relief. Unable to consume his body, the flames subsided after about five minutes, causing Caitlyn to blush and look away.

"You're naked!" She exclaimed, not looking at him.

"Oh, shit," he said and she heard him running to his backpack.

"I guess not even my underwear were safe," he said after coming back, having put on a pair of shorts.

"It seems no more fire for today," she choked out, eliciting a smirk from him.

"Alright. Anyway, for cold I've got nothing, I guess I'll just stay like this tonight and see if it affects me."

"Ok. So what do you want to try next?" She asked.

"This," he said and passed her a piece of uneven metal. "This time don't come at my throat, just cut my arm. Here."

"Why?" She asked, but nevertheless put the piece of metal above the point he pointed out.

This time she saw him looking away and bracing himself, for the first time today. This was starting to feel ominous so she just brought the metal down.

Blood, blood started pouring out of his arm. He hissed and she screamed at the same time she dropped the metal.

"Oh my god! It cut you! I cut you!" She exclaimed, looking at his wound horrified.

"I know, it's fine," he said looking at the cut.

"How did you know that that would cut you?" She asked, trying to hold back tears.

"It's a piece of my ship. That metal is the only thing that has ever hurt me," he explained.

"If you knew it'd hurt you, why did you make me do it?"

"I wanted to see if a simple piece would work on its own or if it had to be near the ship," he said.

"God, that was horrible! Why did you make me do it? I'd have believed you! Here, we need to treat that wound!" She said while walking over to him.

"No, we don't. And to answer your question, it's because I wanted you to see... this," he said, letting her see his arm.

She stared at it. Incredible. The gash she had caused was already shallow and was no longer leaking blood. Even as she looked she could see the skin mending together.

"I healed just as fast the other time too," he explained and then walked towards his water bottle to clean the blood, "don't forget to pick that up."

She grabbed the piece of metal and, feeling nauseated by the blood in it, quickly shoved it in the front pocket of her hoodie.

"Alright," he said after coming back, "now poke my eyes."

"Can I refuse again?"

"No."

Sighing, she made her fingers into a v sign and went to stab his eyes, but he closed them on reflex. They repeated the process only this time he made sure to keep his eyelids open with his fingers. Not even a scratch. Same result with pinching his tongue, he even made her kick him in the groin. Nothing.

They tried many other ways to hurt him throughout the day. They even plucked his eyebrows but although the hair did come off, it wasn't actually being uprooted; the hairs simply broke under the force, not unlike a haircut.

"Ok, I'm tired," she said as the sun was setting and let herself drop on her butt. "I think you've confirmed that you're indestructible."

"Oh, I mostly knew already. I had already tried almost all of this, but wanted you to see too."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because you're important and also because I wanted to see how it felt truly showing my power," he explained. "It's... awesome. Everyone has to know."

She cursed inwardly. She hoped that they had moved pass the subject at least for a few days.

"Please, let's just focus on you for now. Please?"

"The world needs to know, Caitlyn. Don't think I don't know what you're doing, but sooner they have to know. But let's eat for now."

They ate and after it went completely dark, she went into her sleep back. He just lied on the floor, his head on his hands looking at  the trees.

She woke up early the next morning, only to find him sitting and looking at her, still half naked like last night.

"No cold either," he informed.

"Good," she said while rubbing her eyes.

"Alright, that's it for resistance, let's see now my other powers!" He exclaimed.

"After breakfast," she said as she opened the sleeping bag.

They tried numerous things. He uprooted trees with raw strength, punched them down, cut them using laser vision. He flew straight up and then back down, causing a crater on the floor and a small tremor. He punched a rock, causing it to shatter. He punched the wall of the mountain, causing his entire arm to get embedded and multiple cracks appearing from the hole his arm left.

He flew until the upper atmosphere, until the sky went dark as per his own words, and then flew back down immediately, trying to test his speed. Their rough calculations told them that he could fly at around mach 1 speed.

"I can go faster," he said, seemingly annoyed. "I just don't like not hearing myself move so I slowed down as soon as I broke the sound barrier. I don't like it, some might think that some planes are faster than me."

She looked at him with her eyebrows raised. "Yes, because everyone will be disappointed by the boy who is faster than most planes _on his own_."

He looked at her, first angry at her suggestion that he might actually have limits, but then caught her joke and smiled.

"Ok, is there something else left to test?" She asked.

"Only one thing," he said while giving her an old handheld console.

"What's this...?" She asked.

"Turn it on," he instructed and she obeyed.

When his eyes turned red, the console's screen immediately started flickering.

"Try to count the seconds until it stops doing that," he said and then took off.

"One." And then it remained on.

He came back one minute later.

"Well?" He asked.

"One," she replied.

"Three hundred and fifty yards then, more or less," he concluded.

She was confused for a moment, but then said, "oooh, you were testing the range for that electricity thing."

"Yeah," he then looked at her with another smile. "Hey, found a lake not far from here, still a couple of hours until it becomes night, want to go swimming?"

"Oh, but I didn't bring a swimsuit," she said, blushing.

"I showed you mine, it's only fair that you show me yours," he teased and she looked at him in terror. "Joking. But I have spent the entire weekend in underwear, you can do the same for a couple of hours."

"Fine," she did actually kind of want to swim. "Let's go."

"Good," he said and then carried her.

"Seriously, we could just have walked," she whined after having had to shake off the tremor in her legs again.

"One day you'll get used to it," he said and then went to wait for her at the border of the lake.

Stripping to her underwear was only made more embarrassing by the hungry look he gave her the entire time.


	11. His Revelation

Flying piggyback was a little less terrifying than flying on Brandon's arms. Only a little, though, and it involved hearing his grumbling about having to dangle his huge backpack all the way, but it's not like it was a big inconvenience for him.

"If I drop something, it'll be your fault," he said.

"It was your idea that we did this trip in the first place so it will be yours," she said, not quite smiling as she was still afraid of him dropping her.

That and she had been having a bad feeling since they packed and left the lake; she was sure she was forgetting something, but couldn't know what. It wasn't until she finally saw civilization that it hit her.

"Hey! Have you gotten any calls or texts over the weekend?" She hadn't checked her phone all weekend! It actually had never rung at all.

"I couldn't have," he said. "There was no reception in that forest."

"Oh damn," now she was actually scared, what if her mom had called her? She did tell her she had gone camping, so she had an excuse, but still she had a bad feeling.

Half an hour later, they landed in the woods behind her house, and all the lights were on.

"What time is it?" She asked him.

"My phone is dead," he answered. "But we left as soon as it went dark and last time it took us an hour to get there, so it must be around 8."

"That means that my mom is home early, I don't like this." She asked.

He then looked at the house too and then at her. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No," she said and shook her head. "Maybe she's just sick or something."

"Alright, talk to you later," he said and took off after giving her a goodbye kiss.

She slowly walked around the house towards the front porch and tentatively opened the door. She didn't take two steps after walking inside that she heard quick footsteps coming from the kitchen.

"CAITLYN!" It was her mom. She came like a meteor and immediately hugged her. Afterwards, she grabbed her face. "Oh my god! You're safe!"

"Yes?" She offered. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Evidently that was the wrong thing to ask, for her mother suddenly changed gears and went ballistic.

"WHERE WERE YOU?!" She screamed, making Caitlyn jump back.

"I... I told you," she stammered. "Gwen and..."

"Don't lie to me!" Erica exclaimed. "Gwen called me yesterday asking if you wanted to go to the mall. She tried calling you but you didn't answer!"

That's what she had been forgetting. She left in such a hurry that she didn't actually think to ask Michelle and Gwen to cover for her.

"Then I called you but your phone had no signal!" Erica was on the border of tears. "Then I called Michelle and she didn't know either! I called everyone!"

"E... everyone?" She really hoped her mother wasn't being literal. She hoped that she no longer included the Breyers as part of 'everyone.'

She hoped in vain. As soon as she asked the question, her mother narrowed her eyes. "Yes, everyone," Erica spat. "And the Breyers told me that... that... _boy_ had also gone missing!"

So Brandon didn't just take the shotgun without permission, he had lied to her and  _left_ without permission.

"I swear I wasn't with him!" She lied. It had become very easy to lie over the past more than a year.

Her mother just looked at her while she grabbed her phone an dialed.

"Hi, Tori!" She said to the phone. "Just wanted to let you know that Caitlyn was back! Oh my god I was so scared! Thank god! I hope you find your..."

Her mother paused, and her face twisted with even more anger than before.

"... He came back too?" She whispered. "Oh, well, I'm happy for you. Yeah I understand, I too need to have a talk with her. Yes. Bye!"

Well, the game was out now. During a second nobody said anything, and then Erica took a deep breath as if trying to calm herself.

"The kitchen. Now," she spat, and walked ahead.

Caitlyn obeyed mechanically, still thinking of a way to get out of this one. Nothing came to her mind. Once they were at the table, her mother sat in front of her.

"What were you doing with that boy?" She asked.

"I wasn't with..." Caitlyn started, though she didn't even know why she bothered.

"Don't lie to me!" Erica exclaimed. "You two go missing at the same time and appear at the same time. Two coincidences is too much!"

"I... I..." She didn't know what to say. She guessed it was better to just tell the truth, but then her mother just started crying.

"Did he do something to you? ... Oh, god, I was so scared. Even more with that thing people saw..." Erica mumbled incoherently.

"What thing?" Caitlyn asked, hoping she could at least stall the confrontation.

Her mother just tapped a little on her phone and then passed it to her. They were pictures, pictures taken at dawn. It was a thing flying atop the trees, the sun was just coming up so there wasn't enough light to see clearly what was on the photos unless, like Caitlyn, one knew what it was. It was very much her and Brandon's silhouette as he was carrying her away yesterday morning. She felt a shudder going down her back, but tried not to let anything show on her face. Not that she needed to as her mother was still sobbing.

"What... What is that?" She asked.

"Nobody knows," Erica replied. "But people saw it near here yesterday morning, everyone's talking about it."

"That's very creepy," she said.

"Yes! And then you disappeared! And then it turned out that another kid had disappeared! Some people even said that it was some sort of creature stealing children. I couldn't even call the police until earlier today, and they can't even get started on the search until tomorrow as they had to rule out first if you had run away! When they said that I... God! I was so scared!"

"Don't worry mom," she whispered and walked around the table to hug her mother. "I'm back, I'm not running away."

Her mother hugged her tightly, but then let her go and, becoming angry again, went back to topic. "What were you doing with that boy?"

At this point, her mother deserved the truth, or at least some of it.

"He's my... friend?" She said.

"Your friend?" Her mother asked, her face going blank. It was an obvious lie that was gonna fail and it did.

"My... boyfriend," she whispered.

"Oh god, Cat," her mother said. Caitlyn would have given anything not to hear that disappointed tone in her mother's voice. "Why? Why that kid? Why did you even talk to him? After what he did to you..."

"He didn't mean it!" She exclaimed. "And he apologized many times and he helped me with school! He's actually really nice and he looks out for me..."

Her mother only looked at her intently, and Caitlyn didn't know what else to say to placate her mother so she fell silent and once again nobody said anything for a while.

Finally, her mother spoke, "I'm really disappointed in you, Caitlyn. That kid is not good for you, I know there's something wrong with him and he could hurt you again. I forbid you from speaking to him again."

"Wh... what?" Caitlyn asked, her mouth falling open.

"You heard me, you're not allowed to talk to that kid anymore. Actually, you're grounded for the rest of the summer for this little stunt. Where did you even go?"

"Mom, please, you can't..." she started, but her mother just turned angry again.

"Of course I can! You're my daughter and you will listen to me! Now answer me!" She yelled.

Now it was Caitlyn's turn to cry. Not for her, not for the possibility of not seeing Brandon, because that was nil. No, she was crying for her mother. She needed to convince her mother, it wasn't even a matter of listening to her or not. Brandon would not let anyone get in his way, not even her mother.

"He wanted to explore the woods and wanted me to accompany him. That's all, we just went exploring..." she said. It wasn't a lie, that's basically what they did.

"I can't believe you would lie to me just to scurry away with some... boy," Erica said, once again disappointed. "Actually not even some boy, that boy. God, Caitlyn, I thought you were better than hiding things like this."

"Mom! Please! You don't understand!" She exclaimed. "I... I won't stop talking to him! I like him!"

"Excuse me?" The fact that her mother's voice was calm and she just arched an eyebrow upset Caitlyn all the more.

"This is my life, mom! I'm sorry I kept it a secret from you!" She exclaimed. "But you can't control that. He won't do anything to hurt me and... I really like him!"

"CAITLYN CONNOR!" Her mother yelled. "How can you speak like this? I'm your mother and you must respect what I say!"

"I always do!" the conversation was quickly becoming a screaming match. "But this time I know better than you! Trust me! I can't stop seeing Brandon! You have to believe me!"

Suddenly her mother seemed deflated, looking from one of her eyes to the other. "Oh my god! He's... he's threatening you, isn't he?"

"What?" Caitlyn asked. "No!"

"Cat, baby. You don't need to worry about him. He might seem scary, but he's just a kid. He won't do anything to hurt you, I swear," her mother said, reaching a hand at her.

Caitlyn just shook her head and took a step back, letting even more tears fall. "No, mom, it's not like that. God, you don't understand!"

"What I understand is that I know what is best for you. You won't talk again with that boy and that is final!"

"NO!" Caitlyn screamed, causing her mother to pause momentarily. "You can't stop me from talking to him and I won't!"

"Go to your room," her mother said after breathing deeply again. "You are grounded. This conversation is over."

"No," Caitlyn said in a whisper, looking at the table. "You have to accept that he's my boyfriend."

"What is this?" Now her mother looked genuinely shocked now. "This is my house and you will listen to me! What kind of behavior is this?!"

Caitlyn was no longer crying, she just looked at her mother with no expression on her face. "Mom, I'm sorry that I can't listen to you this time, but there's nothing you can do about this."

"Excuse me?" Her mother said again. "Give me your phone and go to your room this instant!"

"No," Caitlyn repeated, now growing angry. She was seeing Brandon's point now, she didn't need to take this. "I mean yes, you can take my phone, you can lock me in my room if you want. That won't stop me, that won't stop him."

"Oh you think so?" Her mother said, smirking at her. "I was a little rebel at your age too, you know? But you seem to think that just because you have a boyfriend now you can do anything you want. I'm sorry, sweetie, but I can stop you. If I see him near the house I'll just call the police."

Erica then gave a victorious little laugh, as if she had the whole situation figured out.

"He's been sleeping in my room for over a year now, mom, nobody has noticed him. Nobody will if he doesn't want it to," she spat.

Her mother's mouth dropped open now. For a second it seemed like Erica truly had run out of  things to say, but she recovered quickly.

"That's impossible," she said at last.

"And yet, it's true," Caitlyn replied, with a small smile of her own.

For a second it seemed as if her mother was going to slap her, but Erica managed to control herself. "Alright, I've had enough. You will go to your room now, you will bring me your laptop and nobody will be allowed in the house unless I know about it. I'll have a surveillance system installed this week."

For the first time in the night, she smiled at her mother, a pitying smile. "No, mom, you still don't understand. That won't matter, none of that matters."

"Ok, I see that you seem to be going through some phase. We'll talk with a therapist too," her mother said, offering a smile.

"God! Just listen to me!" Caitlyn said. "It doesn't matter what you do, nobody can stop him. I mean that literally."

"Wow, I guess you seem to be really smitten with this boy, you sure seem to be putting him in a pedestal, but he's just some creepy 13-year-old. He really can't do anything," Erica said with a snort.

"That's where you're wrong mom," she was looking at the table again. "He can do everything."

Her mother snorted again, and Caitlyn simply grabbed the phone that was still in the table, and showed the picture to her mother. "You want to know what this is?"

Erica then frowned, obviously confused, but before she had time to answer a loud thud came from outside and the house trembled a little, making her mother yelp. Caitlyn wasn't surprised, she was expecting it since the moment her mother showed her the photo.

"CAITLYN!" He bellowed, and a second later the front door opened with a bang, causing her mother to yell again. He walked into the kitchen and looked at her, completely ignoring her mother, who was grabbing her chest in shock.

She calmly turned to look at him. He he had the same glint in his eye and the same smile he had when he showed her his ship.

"They know," he said with barely contained excitement.

She looked back at her mother, who was looking at them with an open mouth. Caitlyn's face was blank when she said, "yes, I guess they do."


	12. His Hand

"What the hell is happening here?!" It seemed like her mother had found her voice at last.

Caitlyn turned towards Brandon, who himself was now looking at her mother. His eyes were shining like red coals, which caused her mother to go pale and silent again.

"Mom, you know Brandon. Brandon, my mother," Caitlyn introduced.

Neither of them replied. Brandon slowly looked back at her.

"Well?" He asked.

"I mean, it's not too late to pretend that that doesn't have anything to do with you..." She offered. She believed that as much as she believed that her mother would stay quiet the rest of the night.

"I can't risk it, what if someone from the government comes to investigate and they find... it," he was going to mention his ship, but evidently he didn't want her mother to know anything about him.

"What are you going to do, then? Fight the government?" She asked, she was half smiling.

"If I have to," he answered with a shrug.

That removed the small smile from her face. She stood up and put her hands on his shoulders, "have you thought this through?"

"They can't do anything to me, you know that," he said.

"Well, no, but you could be putting the town at risk," she pointed out.

"I don't care about the town," he reminded.

"What about your parents? What about me?" She asked.

Surprisingly, he smiled. "They don't have to know that it's me. I have a costume."

"What?" She asked, but all she got as answer was him disappearing in a blink, leaving her with her arms extended and staring at nothing.

She slowly lowered her arms, completely confused.

"Caitlyn!" Her mother yelled then.

"What?" She asked, rubbing a hand on her face.

"Explain to me this instant!" Her mother commanded.

"God! The thing in that picture is him and I! He was carrying me away!" She snapped. "He's got powers."

Her mother looked from her phone in the table and back to her.

"What?" Her mother whispered.

"How do you think he opened the door without a key? You talked to his mother, how do you think he made it so fast between his house and here? How do you think he disappeared just now?"

Her mother was dumbfounded, looking at her, but before any of them said anything else, there was another loud crash outside and a second later he came in.

This time Caitlyn did yell along with her mother. He was wearing a hoodie and a cape, but the hoodie was stitched together, and the stitches resembled a crude face. From the holes of the hoodie, his red eyes shined; the whole thing was red, in fact. She remembered the drawings she saw then, all that time ago, and his outfit was actually a faithful enough recreation of them, but in person he looked even more like...

"You look like a demon," She whispered.

"You think?" He asked, his voice muffled.

"Is this really how you want everyone to see you?" She asked in return.

"I want everyone to fear me, to know that they can't do anything to me," he said.

"Enough!" Her mother exclaimed, standing up. "I don't know what kind of prank you are pulling here but I won't let it stand. Caitlyn, go to your room now! And you kid, leave my house right now!"

Caitlyn didn't even have enough time to be scared for her mother. Erica hadn't even finished talking before Brandon grabbed her by the neck and hoisted her up, floating.

"Brandon!" Caitlyn yelled. She saw her mother visibly struggling to breath and clawing with her hands at Brandon's arm.

"I told you, Caitlyn. I won't let people I don't care about get in the way," he merely said, still looking at her mother. He actually sounded fascinated, as if Erica's reaction was very interesting to him.

"Brandon, that's my mom!" She pleaded.

"And?" He said, still looking intently at Erica, who was slowly turning purple.

"Brandon," she said, no longer screaming. Her tone seemed to actually catch his attention because he finally turned to look at her, though he didn't stop choking her mother. Caitlyn looked at him and hoped that her conviction was showing on her face. "If you hurt my mom, I swear I'll kill myself."

No sooner she said the words at he let her mom go, and Erica dropped to the floor with a thud. She immediately ran towards her mother, but Brandon blocked her way. His eyes hadn't stopped being red since he came in wearing the costume, but she actually could see the fury behind the red light now.

"I told you before. I told you never to say something like that," he said slowly.

She stood tall then, she was still a couple of inches taller than him, not that that really mattered, but she needed him to look up at her at least this time. "And I tell you now that you won't hurt my mother."

"You won't stop me, you can't stop me," he spat back and then it was her he was lifting by the throat, though he was not choking her. Like the last time he did it, she grabbed his arm to not let her neck carry her whole weight.

"Caitlyn!" Her mother yelled, her voice coarse.

"You're right, I can't," she conceded, and the she smiled. "But I know you won't, because that would hurt me. You're going to hurt me again?"

Before he answered, not that he seemed to be in a hurry to answer, a commotion came from outside as a car suddenly screeched to a stop and then there were running steps. The Breyers came in a second later.

"Oh my god!" Tori exclaimed, immediately lifting a hand to her mouth.

"Brandon!" Kyle yelled. "What are you doing?!"

"Don't interfere!" Brandon yelled back, still staring at Caitlyn through the holes in his hoodie. "This is between me and her."

"Baby, please," his mother said, grabbing his free hand with hers. "Just put her down, we can talk."

Brandon closed his eyes and, after breathing deeply, lowered her to the floor. He then opened his eyes again, still red, and kept them fixated on Caitlyn.

"That kid is a mons..." Erica started.

"Mom please!" Caitlyn yelled without taking her own eyes from Brandon's, and thankfully her mother didn't finish the sentence.

"Buddy," Kyle said, still from the kitchen's door. "Why don't you come down and we talk about this?"

"Talk about what?" He asked, his eyes unmoving.

"Why don't you explain it to us, baby?" His mother asked, looking up at him.

"You explain it," he said.

For a moment nobody said anything, the three adults looking alternatively at Caitlyn and Brandon, who were still locked in a staring contest. Caitlyn herself didn't know what he wanted exactly, or why she even held his gaze, she only knew that, at this moment, it was better to keep Brandon's attention on her and there was a feeling, deep in her gut, that told her that if she made even one mistake, terrible things could happen.

"Brandon is special," she said, her eyes still on him. "He can fly, he can shoot beams from his eyes, he's strong, he's fast, he's indestructible. He's... better, better than any other person."

"Why did you come here, buddy?" Kyle asked.

"Why did you disappear?" Tori asked.

"Why did he show you all this?!" Erica asked. Her mother's tone was slightly hysterical, but she at least seemed less willing to scream and yell commands now that she saw that the other two adults were somewhat calm.

"I'm his girlfriend," Caitlyn answered. "And this weekend he wanted to show me everything he can do. He wants to show the entire world everything he can do."

"What?" Kyle and Erica asked simultaneously.

"Why?" Tori asked in turn.

"It's why I'm here, mom," he finally said. "I was sent here to take this world."

"Baby no," Tori said. "You were sent here to be our child, our little baby, you can still be that. Nobody has to know..."

"That thing people are talking about is me," he replied. "Yesterday morning, when Caitlyn and I were leaving."

"The pictures aren't clear, buddy," Kyle offered. "Nobody knows that it's you, we can still keep this a secret."

"He doesn't want to," Caitlyn said.

"I don't want to," Brandon said at the same time.

"Brandon please," Tori begged. "You don't need to put yourself in danger, we can just keep on going as if nothing..."

"I'm not in danger," he said and finally he tore his eyes way from Caitlyn to glare at his mother.  Caitlyn herself blinked and felt relieved as her eyes were starting to tear up.

"You don't know that, baby..." Tori started.

"No, he isn't in danger," Caitlyn interrupted. Finally the trip and the whole night were catching up to her, she was exhausted. She took a seat and looked at her lap. "We tested everything we could yesterday, nothing can harm him."

"Did you test rockets?" Erica asked. "Did you test nuclear bombs?"

Caitlyn made a face, not even bothering to look at her mother.

"Erica please!" Tori asked, her tone of voice showing her horror.

"I will," Brandon sentenced. The fact that he addressed her mother surprised Caitlyn enough to look back at him, except he was looking at Caitlyn again, and his next words were to her. "If she says another word, I _will_ kill her."

She just glared at him, but then turned to her mother. "Mom, please, I won't be able to save you twice."

Erica opened her mouth, but this time it was Kyle who spoke. "Jesus Christ, Erica, shut the fuck up!"

Her mother closed her mouth again and just sat down at the other side of the table in a huff.

"Baby," Tori spoke again. "She's not wrong, you don't know with what they could attack you, you really don't need to do this!"

"I want to do it! I will!" Brandon said, sounding more like a rebellious teen than the threatening creature he was trying to present himself as.

"And what exactly will you do, champ?" Kyle asked again.

"Whatever I want, let them know me, let them fear me," Brandon answered.

"People could love you if you want, honey, you don't need fear," Tori offered.

"You wouldn't understand," Brandon whispered. "You're all so small, while I'm so big. I don't care about your love, I only care about doing whatever I want with this world."

"Are you saying you don't love me? That you don't love your father?" Tori asked, tears in her eyes.

Caitlyn looked at him, genuinely curious about what his answer would be. He looked from his mom, to his dad, and then to her, and finally back to his mother.

"I won't let anything harm you, they don't even know it's me so nobody will come looking for you," he said at last.

"You could just stay with us and that  way nobody would harm us either, bud," Kyle pointed out.

"I won't," Brandon said, and his eyes shone again. "I'm tired of hiding, I don't need to hide, why do you want me to hide as if I were an ant?"

"Because we want you to be safe, baby," Tori said.

"I will be safe! Nothing can harm me!" Brandon said. "It's not up to you anymore, they already saw what I can do, and I will show the world that nobody can stop me."

Neither Tori or Kyle said anything else, clearly not knowing what else they could try to convince their son. Mrs. Breyer was now sobbing openly and Mr. Breyer himself was tearing up too.

It was obvious that not even his parents would sway Brandon, so Caitlyn spoke again.

"Fine, go, scare people, destroy things, what will that get you?" She asked.

"Nothing," he admitted after thinking it over for a second. He finally lowered himself to the floor and came to stand in front of her. "But that's the thing you haven't understood, Caitlyn. It's not a matter of needing, because I can take whatever I want, so I truly only need one thing, and I already have it."

His tone and his intense gaze -finally green again- made it obvious what he meant, but she tried not to let it get to her. This time, she needed to be objective.

"So, if it makes no difference to you, why bother?" She asked.

"Because why not? This is the last time I ask you, now you have to answer."

So it fell on her. At this point she could tell him that no, she would never understand and he could go on his way, or that she did and she'd be with him like in his drawings. There was no stopping him now and then she finally had her answer.

"I don't know why not," she whispered at last.

He wordlessly extended his hand at her and she looked at it for a long time.

She grabbed it.


	13. His First

The grass before her was burning, but Brandon wasn't done. He was still flying around shooting beams out of his eyes, trying to make sure his first "work" was perfect. She could barely stand as he had took her from her house ignoring their parents and had brought her here, and she was exhausted. She'd begged him to wait until the next day as they were flying but he wouldn't take no for an answer, he wanted to get this - his first real message to the world - done today. She was contemplating just sitting on the floor when he descended in front of her.

"Come," he said and lifted her bridal style before she could even answer. Slowly he ascended through the air, and she was frankly too tired to even be scared at this point. She was already dozing off with her head on his neck when he spoke again. "Look."

She looked down, towards the gigantic burning sign on the grass. It was the two colliding Bs she'd seen in his drawing notebook, only written in fire on the grass.

"Wow" was all she could say. It was impressive, foreboding even and for a moment she actually forgot her exhaustion, overwhelmed by the meaning behind the sign. Now people would sure come to investigate, and Brandon would meet them. She knew then that she really was witnessing a change in the world.

"I know," he said, the fire reflecting on his eyes, easily visible through the hood.

After a moment, he moved again, picking up speed. It took her a moment to notice that he wasn't taking her to his house or hers.

"Where are we going?" She asked, barely above a whisper.

"I don't want my parents or your mother bothering us again today," he answered.

A moment later she found herself in front of the school. It was closed and seemingly empty, probably because it was summer, but Brandon, without releasing his hold on Caitlyn, simply kicked the door open, breaking the lock and the chains that had been holding it closed just a moment ago. He then flew to the infirmary and deposited her on a bed, sitting.

"Really?" She asked. "The school?"

"I like this place," he said.

Frankly she was in no mood to argue. A bed was a bed, and she let herself fall on her back. He joined her a second later, having finally removed the hood and cape. Not surprisingly, he brought her closer and tried to kiss her, evidently still excited by the events of the day, but she wouldn't have it.

"Brandon, seriously. I'm tired," she whined, already dozing off.

"Fine," he said, and then they adopted their usual sleeping arrangement of her giving her back to him, with his arm on her belly. Not even the very real evidence of his excitement poking the small of her back was enough to bother her at this point; she was asleep less than a minute later.

She woke up with a start, first noticing that Brandon wasn't there with her, though he wasn't far. He was sitting in front of the nurse's computer, looking intently at something.

"Morning," she said with a yawn.

"Morning," he answered, still looking at the computer.

"What are you watching?" She asked, sitting up.

"News about me," he answered, sparing a pleased look in her direction.

That actually did spark her interest and she quickly walked next to him. At first she thought of bringing a chair to sit on, but he simply pulled her on his lap. She blushed a little, but wasn't really uncomfortable so she didn't protest. The local news were all over the place with pictures of the burnt grass and some were associating the grass with the earlier ones of their flying stunt. There were some conspiracy theorists saying it was the Illuminati, some others were saying that these were failed experiments of a military base that must be hidden near Brightburn. Then there was this bald vlogger in youtube, arguing how this was actually the work of a race of aliens come here to conquer Earth and that this was their declaration of war.

"... We must prepare ourselves to fight them off!" The guy in the video concluded.

"I like this guy," Brandon commented.

"He seems smart," she said with half a smile. "I'm hungry, can we go back home now?"

Instead of answering, he kissed her deeply. Afterwards he rubbed his cheek on hers and then buried his face on her neck. She blushed, neither of them had brushed their teeth and she could very well notice his bad breath and she was sure he could notice hers, but she didn't care, and neither did he. She also knew that she must have stunk, yet he didn't seem at all uncomfortable with nuzzling her neck.

"Brandon," she started with a giggle, he was tickling her with his nose.

He then stopped and, after a pause, finally talked. "I really don't like your mother."

"I know," she said. "But she's my mother, what do you want me to do?"

"Stay with me," he said.

"That's what I've been doing for over a year," she pointed out.

"No, I mean, come live with me," he said, his face still on her neck.

"With you and your parents? That's crazy," she said, moving her head so she could look at his eyes.

"No, not with my parents," he said.

"Then where?" She asked.

"Wherever you want," he offered. "Name a place and we'll go live there."

She almost laughed, but then realized that he wasn't lying. He could literally take her to live wherever she wanted, nobody would stop them. A literal world of possibilities opened before her for an instant, but then she shook her head. No, she couldn't let his power get to her, she had to remember the purpose she'd set herself.

"Can I think about it?" She asked, and gave him a peck in the lips for good measure.

"Sure," he said, then he smirked. "I still want to see if they actually send someone to check what's going on here anyway."

"Will your hurt them?" She asked.

"Up to them," he stated.

"You know..." she said, trying to think of how best to phrase what she was thinking in a way that wouldn't annoy him. "Maybe you don't need to hurt them..."

"How so? If they try to hurt me, I'll defend myself and then they and whoever they send next will know not to mess with me," he sentenced, his eyes flashing red momentarily.

"Sure, but I mean," she tried again. "You could try leaving them alive, then they themselves would spread the message of... not messing with you."

He looked at her, seeming to be considering what she was saying. Finally, he said, "like I said, up to them. Anyway, let's get moving."

She sighed and stood up, she quickly tied her shoes and then she was on his arms again, and he had put on the hood and cape again.

When they got near the door, he said. "Put your face on my neck, it's better if nobody sees you."

She didn't need to be told twice and buried her face on the left side of his neck. Sure enough, as soon as they came out the entrance, she heard gasps. Evidently, people had come to investigate the broken school door.

"Hey you, freeze!" It was clearly a police officer. Her tone making it obvious she didn't understand what to make of the situation.

Brandon stood unmoving in the air with her still in his arms. She was about to tell him that they should just leave when she felt a rush of heat coming from her left and a split second later there was an explosion and screams. Brandon then turned her around and she heard gunshots, causing her to scream.

"Are you hurt?!" He asked, she was about to move her head when he yelled again. "Don't lift your head! Just answer me!"

"No, I'm not," she said to his neck.

He then moved upwards, flying much faster than he had ever flown while carrying her, causing her to scream again. A second later he deposited her on the roof of the school.

"Wait here," he said, his eyes shining.

"What are you going to do?!" She asked.

"I'm going to kill them," he whispered.

"No!" She exclaimed, then she heard gunshots again and saw a bullet ricochet off the back of Brandon's arm, he was still floating. "You don't have to! Why don't we just leave?"

"They almost hurt you, they would have if I hadn't turned around," he said through gritted teeth. "I can't allow that."

"But I'm fi..." it was useless, he was gone.

For a second she thought of just staying hidden, but ultimately curiosity got the better of her. She lifted her heard over the parapet just barely enough to see what was happening, and she almost wished she hadn't, although she couldn't look away now.

Brandon was flying circles around the two policemen and the security guard who must have called them, who were right then trying to hide among the wreckage of a police car. Brandon would come near and startle them and a second later he would move away and behind them, too fast for them to notice. However, not so for Caitlyn, who was far enough to see wherever Brandon was moving even if the people he was terrorizing couldn't. From her position, it seemed like a bizarre game of cat and mouses. She tried not to ponder on the possibility that Brandon might actually be putting on a show for her.

After a couple of minutes of the "game", Brandon grabbed one of the officers and lifted him high in the air. She still couldn't look away, even if she knew what would happen next. Sure enough, Brandon simply let him fall next to the others, causing the other officer and the security guard to scream and try running away, but Brandon simply shot a beam in front of them, cutting their escape. He quickly descended in front of them and then, almost nonchalantly, grabbed the security guard's neck and closed his hand. Caitlyn didn't need to hear to know how horribly his crushed throat must have sounded.

Now only the officer that Caitlyn had heard first remained still standing in front of Brandon, the body of the security guard limp between them. The woman slowly raised her arms and let her gun fall to the floor, clearly surrendering. Brandon grabbed her arm and, in a blink, he was floating with the nearly unconscious officer dangling from his hand in front of Caitlyn, who screamed and fell on her butt.

"Look at her!" He yelled. Caitlyn wasn't sure to whom he was talking, specially since the officer already looked half death - which in itself also puzzled Caitlyn, until she realized that they must have moved way too fast and some of her bones must have broken. Brandon then yelled again, "Look at the girl!"

Caitlyn felt tears falling down her cheek, but dared not even move. The officer lifted her eyes and looked at Caitlyn, she was also crying. Brandon, satisfied, talked in an almost whisper, "this is my girlfriend, you almost shot her. Not you nor anybody else will ever do that again."

And, with that and an almost casual flick of his arm, he tossed the officer diagonally towards the sky.

For a second, neither of  them said anything. She could feel Brandon's eyes on her, but she was too busy staring at the point in the sky in which she lost view of the officer, her eyes clouded by tears.

"Why are you crying?" He asked.

She breathed deeply, closed her eyes and counted to ten.

_This was not my fault. He did it. This wasn't because of me. He did it. This was not my fault. This was not my fault._

"You... You killed them," she said as soon as she found herself capable of speech.

"Yes," he agreed.

"You didn't have to," she pointed out.

"I told you, if anybody tried to hurt me, I would defend myself. And worse, they almost hurt you. They were lucky," he said, his voice with a cruel conviction. "If they _had_ hurt you, I would've tied them here, would have looked for their families, would have brought their families here, would have killed their families in front of them and _then_ I would have killed them."

She closed her eyes again, shuddering at the grim picture.

"Come, I'm taking you home," he said and then lifted her without waiting for an answer.

"Don't you feel bad about killing them?" She asked, her face again buried on his neck.

"Bad? Why would I?" He asked.

"Because... Because they were people... And you killed them," she whispered.

"They're inferior. I feel as bad about killing them as I do about hunting," he said.

"Had you... Had you killed anyone before?" She asked. Maybe he was just used to it by now, which was probably even more horrible in itself but still...

"If you mean humans, then no," he declared.

She didn't know what else to say, she felt so much that she was going full circle and settling on numb.

_This was not my fault. He did it. This was not my fault..._


	14. His Feelings

After a couple of minutes, they landed in the usual spot: the woods near her house. She moved mechanically and made to walk away, but he stopped her by grabbing her arm, turning her to look at him. He'd taken off the hood and was looking at her with concern.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Was she alright? How could she even begin to answer that question? Well, physically, she was so she said in a monotone. "Yes, I told you, I'm not hurt."

He frowned then and said, "that's not what I meant."

She stared at him for a moment, he truly did seem concerned about her, but she didn't know what to make of the entire situation. Finally, she said, "I don't know. I don't know if I'm fine, I just saw three people killed in front of me. I don't know what to feel about that, but I know that it wasn't something I wanted to see. What's worse, I saw _you_ kill them and I don't know what to make of that either; I wish I hadn't seen it, I wish this was a nightmare."

"What do you mean with that about seeing _me_ kill them?" He asked, taking a step towards her. Before she could catch herself, she took a step back and immediately saw the flash of red in his eyes. He spoke again, barely above a whisper. "You're scared of me."

She opened and closed her mouth several times, she knew she'd made a mistake, but also couldn't bring herself to deny his words so she just kept looking at him, hoping he wouldn't do anything to her or her mother now that they were at her house.

He closed his eyes and opened them again, looking at some spot in her knee. His eyes were red as blood. He asked, his voice a monotone, "what did you think was going to happen when you accepted to stay with me when I took the world?"

"I... I thought you wanted people to fear you, and that you would destroy things to cause fear... I hoped that nobody would have to die," she stammered.

"Seriously?" He asked, his voice laced with contempt, but she didn't miss that his eyes, while still red, were starting to brim with tears. "I  thought you no longer cared about them. I thought you finally understood me. You said that you saw no reason why not."

"I still think it's wrong to kill people. It is wrong to kill people, I just didn't want to fight you anymore, and knew that you wouldn't accept that as a valid reason," she explained.

"So why accept?" He asked. "Did you truly believe nobody would die? Have you never paid attention in history class?"

She didn't even pay attention to his jab, the fact that tears were now falling down his face was emboldening her, at least he seemed unlikely to harm her for now. She answered, "I guess... I guess I hoped that I could convince you not to hurt anyone."

He snorted then, clearly not believing her, and quickly wiped his eyes and his cheeks. She continued, "would you rather I have rejected you?"

"You are rejecting me," he pointed out. "Now that you know you couldn't stop me, you are afraid of me again."

Was she rejecting him? She imagined what her life would be like if he wasn't around, maybe she could go back to normal. Maybe she could pretend the whole thing never happened and she'd never have to see him again. The mere thought caused an awful feeling deep in her stomach and her own eyes to fill with tears. No, she couldn't imagine now what life could be without him, his face, his touch, his kiss. She knew it wasn't healthy, she knew she was probably trapped but still, the mere idea of not seeing him anymore made her feel nauseated. Despite herself, despite the fact that he had imposed himself into her life, he was now a part of it, probably the biggest part of it; she would feel incomplete if he wasn't there. What's more, she knew _he_ would feel incomplete without her and he would only take that feeling out on the world.

He was a killer, he was a monster and she now knew that he would bring misery to the world, nothing she could do would stop that. And yet, and yet... She couldn't bear the thought of losing him. She even knew he wouldn't hurt her now, even if she actually rejected him, but was now sure that she wouldn't. It was selfish, to care so much about someone who had already done terrible things and would do even more terrible things, but she couldn't lie to herself. Even if she right now promised to herself again that she would keep trying to make him see a less violent way, she knew she'd stay with him regardless.

Openly crying, she all but tackled him in a hug and then kissed him. He responded immediately, making a sound that was half grunt half sob and they stayed like that for a full minute. She then put her forehead on his.

"I'm not rejecting you," she whispered. "I can't. I hate it, I hate you, but I can't."

"You hate me?" He asked, looking at her eyes while their foreheads were still touching.

"Yes, you know I never chose any of this," better to just let it all out. "It was all your doing, you never left me a choice. But it doesn't matter now, I like you too much now."

"So you hate me but you like me?" He asked, seeming genuinely confused.

"Yes," she admitted. "I hate that I don't know what my life would have been like if you hadn't come into the picture. I hate that I don't want that life anyway. I like your face, I like  your voice, I like when you touch me. I like when we talk about school or about movies, I like when we go camping. I even like how excited you get when you talk about what you want to do, even if you always look a little crazy when you talk about that. Even your presence I like, I miss you whenever you sleep in your house."

"Wow," he said, finally a smile tugging at his lips.

"But yes, I'm also scared of you," she continued and his little smile immediately disappeared. "I'm scared of what you can do, of what you've already done and what you want to do. I'm also really angry that you killed those people. I wish you hadn't. I wish you could try leaving people alive in the future."

"You don't need to be scared of me," he whispered.

"But I am, I don't know if one day you'll just get bored of me and then I will be no different to you than other people, who you say you have no problem killing," she admitted, a tear falling down her cheek.

That seemed to flip a switch, for she found herself with her back against a tree, both his hands on either side of her face and his eyes, red, looking at her with such intensity she was a bit shocked that he didn't accidentally shoot her with his heat vision. He then said, "don't say that. You have no idea... no idea..."

"Then tell me," she demanded.

"Ever since we met, back in elementary school," he explained. "You were always nice to me, one of the few people who were nice to me. So kind, I really liked talking to you, even if we didn't talk much, you were always with your friends. But still, you always smiled at me, and since then I really liked your smile. Then we got to middle school, and I started noticing how pretty you were, and you also started talking to me more, so I thought that maybe we could be closer friends. A few times I considered asking you to go see a movie or something, but I was afraid that you'd tell me no. Then I got these powers and thanks to my dad I understood that I liked you, so I had to do something. But I hurt you, I didn't want to, but I also knew I could fix it and that's why I went to your room that night. And you let me in, since then, I realized that I like everything about you. Even your stubbornness, even the fact that you refuse to understand me, because it means that there are still ways in which I can make you like me. Your laugh, your lips, I really like kissing you, I like touching you, even when you get flustered. I don't like being away from you, I wish you were always wherever I am. I told you last night, you're the only thing I truly need, I will never 'get bored' of you. That's impossible."

"Wow," was all her fluttering stomach allowed her to say, and she was looking at him wide eyed.

"I can't promise you I won't kill anyone, because I will," he said and the fluttering in her belly stopped. "This is my life, and now you know it. But I will avoid killing unless I'm attacked first or unless I have to. I will try to listen to you, and your idea of making them spread the fear of me."

This was the best that she was ever gonna get, and it was at least better than nothing so she would have to take it. Still, that didn't mean she would ever stop trying to convince him to spare everyone; it was the least she could do for the world, and it's not like anybody else could.

"That doesn't sound too bad," she whispered and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Alright," he said with a smile. "I'll talk to you later then?"

"Yes," she said, and watched him fly away.

Once she opened the door to her house -the lock was still damaged- her mother came careening toward her. She couldn't help but notice that it was the second time it happened in less than twenty four hours.

"Oh my god, Caitlyn!" She exclaimed. "I was so worried, I thought that that freak would do something to you."

"Please mom," she said, already walking to the kitchen, she truly was starving. "You can call him Brandon, you know? And he hasn't done anything to me in over a year, why would he start now?"

"Because of what happened at the school!" Her mother all but yelled again. "Didn't you hear? A cop and the security guard died, and another cop disappeared. Nobody knows how that happened, but after last night, it's obvious that that... kid did it. God! I had no idea where you were when you left with him. I thought I wouldn't see you again!"

"I don't need to hear about it, mom" she said slowly. "I was there."

"What?" Erica asked.

"We slept at the school," she explained. "And the cops saw us as we were leaving."

"Oh my god!" Erica yelled. "Are you hurt?"

"No mom, I'm fine. He protected me," she declared.

"How can you talk like that about him?" Her mother exclaimed. "You say you were there so you saw what he did!"

"Yes, I did," she admitted. "They shot first mom, he was just trying to protect me and himself."

Omitting the fact that he had blown up the car before they shot would hopefully get her mother to stop trash talking Brandon, or even better, to stop talking about the events altogether.

No such luck. "Still, he killed those cops! Now the other cops might do something!"

"Hopefully not," she said. "If they do, they'll just get killed too."

Erica raised her hand to her mouth. "And you don't care about him doing that?"

Caitlyn finally had enough. "Of course I care, mom. I wish he didn't kill anyone, but it's not like there's much I can do to stop him!"

"But you could get away from him," her mother offered.

"And you think that that will keep us safe?" Caitlyn asked.

"So you're just with him because it's safe?" Her mother asked in return.

Caitlyn looked at her mother for a short moment and, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, answered. "Yes, mom, that's the reason."

"Poor baby," her mother said, suddenly hugging her. "And he can't find some other girl to bother?"

"No idea, maybe he will," she said. To her shock, she felt a sudden surge of anger at the idea, so she continued, "but it's really not that bad for me mom. He treats me really well."

"But baby, you shouldn't have to give up your happiness just to be safe," Erica said.

"I think I'm happy, mom. Or at least as happy as I can be given the situation. If something happens that changes that, I'll do whatever I can to get away from him, don't worry," she said. Once again to her shock, she didn't feel like she was lying.

"But still, he killed those cops and right now they're just investigating. Maybe we should tell..." Erica suggested.

"No, mom!" Caitlyn exclaimed. "I won't say anything, I don't even want to think about it. If you tell, and if he finds out, I won't be able to do anything to protect you. Please mom, promise me to stay out of it."

Erica seemed about to protest, until she saw that her daughter was about to cry, which finally did seem to placate her. Afterwards, and to Caitlyn's relief, they finally sat for breakfast.

That afternoon, she got a text from him.

**Brandon: Hey, my parents asked if you could come over for dinner tonight.**


	15. His Parents

The mood at the table was unusually somber. Not that Caitlyn was expecting anything different, really.

"Interesting thing, what happened at school," Kyle said, looking at nowhere in particular.

Tori breathed deeply, but merely continued picking at her food.

"Do you know anything about that, Brandon?" Kyle asked.

Caitlyn sighed, she had really hoped that his parents would avoid the issue; unlike her mother, they seemed to have known how to deal with Brandon. This wasn't going to be fun.

Brandon looked at his father for a bit before answering, "yes, dad. I know something."

Kyle only looked at his son with an undecipherable expression, so Tori cut in. "Do you mind telling us what happened, baby?"

"Can we not..." Caitlyn whispered, almost to herself, and she might as well have said nothing since nobody gave any indication of having heard her.

"Caitlyn and I slept at the school. When we were getting out, the cops shot at us and I protected us," Brandon said with a shrug.

"Are you saying it was all in self-defense?" Tori asked, looking at her son with a small smile.

"Yes, of course," Brandon said with a blank face. Even people who didn't know him as well as his parents or Caitlyn would easily know that he was lying. Caitlyn just looked back at her food.

"How come one of them disappeared, then?" Kyle asked the obvious. "Why weren't they all there on the floor? And why were they dead? You could have..."

Tori's smile fell at Kyle's words, and Brandon interrupted his father. "Wow, dad, you seem really concerned about these cops. Din't you hear the part about how they shot at us? Maybe..."

Kyle stood up abruptly and looked at Brandon with barely contained anger. Brandon, for his part, did stop talking. Mr. Breyer exclaimed, "I don't care what you can do. I'm your father and you will respect me!"

Caitlyn quickly grabbed Brandon's hand below the table, but she didn't need to worry, at least this time. Brandon simply looked back at his plate and said, "you're right. I'm sorry."

That did placate mr. Breyer so he sat back down. More calmly, he spoke again, "of course I heard the part about they attacking you. You can't imagine how glad I am that you're home safe. I just don't understand why couldn't you have just took off, or leaving them alive..."

Brandon looked at his father with obvious anger, but he didn't seem likely to turn violent just yet. "Why? They attacked me! They attacked Caitlyn! I can't let something like that go unpunished, they deserved it."

Nobody said anything for a moment. Until Tori, looking at her son with fear, asked, "Do you... Do you not feel bad about... killing these people, honey?"

Caitlyn closed her eyes and sighed again. Things were going as bad as she had expected.

"I don't think so mom," Brandon said with a smile. Then his eyes flashed red momentarily and he continued, "as far as I care, anyone who tries to go against me can die."

Caitlyn then saw a tear escape his mother's right eye, but Tori wiped it quickly. Kyle, for his part, was also looking at his son with nothing short of deep sadness. Caitlyn didn't know what to make of the short glance the two adults exchanged then.

Not that she had much time, since a moment later Kyle stood up. "I see... Hey champ, do you mind coming with me to the farmyard? Just before dinner I heard something break and I wanted to take a look."

Brandon stared at his father, looking confused at the sudden change of subject, but then rolled with it. "Sure, let's go."

"Caitlyn, sweetheart, do you mind helping me with the dishes?" Caitlyn asked with a smile that didn't reach her eyes while the two men left the table.

"Sure, no problem," she said, also a bit confused at the sudden change. Well, whatever was better than continuing the conversation about those cops.

Caitlyn was about finished when she heard Tori approaching.

"Caitlyn," Brandon's mother said. "Do you mind coming with me to my studio for a moment?"

"Sure," Caitlyn said and, leaving the last plate in its place, followed mrs Breyer, who was already walking towards her studio.

Once they were inside, the woman turned back, and Caitlyn was taken aback at seeing tears running down her cheeks.

"Are you...?" Caitlyn started.

"Do you know what this is, Caitlyn?" Tori asked, and then lifted something in her hands that Caitlyn hadn't noticed before. It was a very, very familiar piece of metal.

She looked back at Tori's eyes, hoping that hers showed her fear. She was barely able to whisper, "yes, yes I do."

"And you know what it can do?" Tori asked before letting out a nearly hysterical sob.

Caitlyn suddenly wished that she and Brandon had never left the school. After an eternity of just a few seconds, Caitlyn choked out "... yes."

Tori said nothing and didn't seem to be able to say anything, so Caitlyn prompted, "why do you...?"

"You know what he's done. You saw it," Tori said, seemingly having found the resolve to speak again. "He's going to do more things like that. I wish he were still my baby, I really wish..."

There was probably nothing in the world Caitlyn wanted less than hearing whatever it was that Tori was getting at, but she still listened.

"But he's not," Mrs. Breyer continued. "He has to be stopped, Caitlyn. Kyle and I have talked about this before, and now he's started killing. He has to be stopped."

Caitlyn now felt tears brimming in her own eyes. "You... You want to... to kill him? But he's your son!"

"Yes, he is!" Tori said, angrily wiping the tears. "But he's not from this world, Caitlyn! He's already killed people, we don't know what else he might do!"

"I... I..." Caitlyn stammered, then swallowed and asked, a bit more clearly. "Why are you showing me this? Why are you telling me this?!"

"Because Caitlyn, sweetheart," Tori said, her eyes pleading. "He's our baby, we can't kill him. I can't kill him, I wouldn't be able to. But you, you..."

Caitlyn took a step back, horrified. She then exclaimed, a bit of hysteria in her own voice, "you want me to do it for you?!"

"Caitlyn please!" Tori said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He's our baby! But you! You are close to him now! You even sleep in the same bed! Yes, I've noticed, you don't need to deny it, it's fine! You can... You can do it while he's asleep. He wouldn't even notice, while he'll hear us coming. He probably would stop us... Caitlyn, please..."

Now both women were openly crying.

"But..." Caitlyn said between sobs. "I don't want to..."

"Yes, you want!" Tori pleaded, her grip on her shoulder becoming almost painful. "I know you never wanted to be with him! He's forcing you, honey! I know you want to get away and I know you don't want him to kill anyone else!"

"But... But... Killing him?" Caitlyn asked, unable to say anything more coherent.

"I know you've seen how he is. We've seen it too, we're his parents!" Tori was starting to look crazy, her eyes boring into her. "You know he won't stop on his own. We're the only ones who can!"

"What if... What if... We just talked to him?" Caitlyn offered.

"We have! We have tried everything to get him to open up to us!" Tori said, wiping her tears again. "He won't! He's set in what he wants! And I know you've talked to him too! You tried it at your house! Did he listen to you?"

Had he listened to her? That morning he'd reminded her that he would kill regardless. He also said that he would try to listen to her, but what if that was just to get her off his case?

Tori, however, took advantage of her silence. "See! Caitlyn, he won't see reason! But we can't... I can't. But you can do it! Please!"

This, this was too much. Caitlyn had half a mind to just run away but it was clear by the conviction in Tori's eyes that his parents would try regardless and that would only end with them killing him or him killing them. She wanted to scream, to cry. Why was this her life? Why were these things pushed on her? She hated Tori then, she hated Kyle, and she hated Brandon for starting it all. This was too much, she was only thirteen, but she also knew that his mother might not be wrong.

"What if... what if..." She asked at last. "What if he notices me before I do it. He'll..."

"No, honey!" Tori said, her hand now patting Caitlyn's shoulder in a way Caitlyn decided to interpret as comforting. "You have to do it while he's asleep. He's a heavy sleeper, I'm sure you've noticed."

Caitlyn was running out of things to say, and they were running out of time, she doubted that Kyle and Brandon would take much longer on the farmyard. "I... I... don't..." She tried.

"Honey, please!" Tori said, the hysteria coming back to her voice. "If we don't do this, a lot of people might die! Do you want to allow that?!"

She looked at Mrs. Breyer open mouthed. How did one even reply to that? She opened and closed her mouth several times and finally she looked down at the piece of metal.

"I... I'll try..." She finally offered.

The other woman all but crushed her on a bear hug, openly sobbing. "Oh god, Caitlyn! I really wish this wasn't the only way! And thank you! Thank you for not making me..."

Caitlyn was suddenly feeling nauseated, so she disentangled herself from Tori and took another step back. Tori, however, wasn't deterred and carefully handed her the piece of metal. Caitlyn felt as if she was holding a poisonous snake.

"Please, text your mother telling her that we're inviting you over for the night," Tori said, trying to muster a smile and accomplishing only a grimace.

"W... what?" Caitlyn asked, her mouth falling open again.

"It has to be done as soon as possible, Caitlyn!" Tori said. "Now come, let me fix your eyes so he doesn't notice your tears."

Caitlyn only looked at Mrs. Breyer in horror, but ultimately moved mechanically to the bathroom where the other woman cleaned her face and applied some make-up to hide her puffy eyes. Tori did the same on herself. Ten minutes later - Caitlyn suspected that Mrs. Breyer had texted her husband - Brandon and his dad came back.

"Hey," he said before looking more closely at her face. "Something wrong with you?"

"What? No!" Caitlyn said, a little more high pitched than she had hoped for. "Your mother and I were just trying on make-up."

"Ah, alright," he said. "Want me to take you home?"

"N... no," she stammered, glancing at his parents who were pretending to talk in the living room. Kyle's eyes were on her. "I'm staying here tonight."

"Oh, awesome," he said breaking into a huge smile. Her stomach dropped so much she was sure it was below the ground. "Let's go to my room, then!"

"Alright," she sighed and, turning to glare at his parents. She hoped that her voice carried her anger too. "Good night, Mr and Mrs. Breyer!"

She walked away without even waiting for an answer and went upstairs. Once in his room, Brandon tried to make out with her several times but she was unresponsive.

"Hey," he said with a little frustration after the third time she turned her face away after an awkward kiss. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she whispered, avoiding his gaze. "I'm just tired, can we just go to sleep today?"

His face betrayed his annoyance, but ultimately he conceded. Not that she could sleep, looking intently at her hoodie that was hanging on the back of his desk chair, whose pocket was hiding the thing she was to use to kill him. She couldn't even move for hours, long after his breathing had steadied. She had to count to one thousand just to gather the strength to leave the bed.

Every step felt heavier than the last, but she finally did manage to reach the desk chair. Slowly, as if on a trance, she took the piece of metal out and just as slowly, she walked back and stood next to the bed. He was sound asleep, sleeping peacefully, and she raised the makeshift weapon over his chest... And promptly dropped to her knees, crying uncontrollably.

The noise of her hitting the floor and her sobbing made him stir, and slowly he opened his eyes. He focused on her and he just frowned for a split second before he was on the floor next to her.

"Hey!" He whispered. "Are you ok? Why are you crying? What...?"

"I can't do it! I can't do it!" She repeated in between her sobs.

"You can't do what?" He asked, confused. He then looked at the piece of metal lying in front of her and went rigid. Slowly, as if trying to make sure his eyes weren't lying, he asked, "Caitlyn, what is that?"

"It's... It's... from your ship," she stammered.

He looked at her, his eyes bright red. Just as slowly as before, he asked, "what were you doing with that?"

"I can't do it!" She repeated.

"You can't do what?" He asked, gritting his teeth. His face becoming harder by the second.

"They... they wanted me to..." She whispered.

"They?" He asked, and her face went pale. "Caitlyn, answer me."

She threw herself at him and tried to kiss him, but he easily pulled away and kept her at arm's length. She exclaimed then, "Brandon, please! Don't do anything!"

"Answer. Me." He punctuated, the fury in his voice almost overwhelming her.

But she didn't need to. Suddenly the door was thrown open and his father burst in; it was obvious that they had been listening in. Brandon needed only to look at what his father was holding before he took action. Caitlyn found herself in his arms and a second later the window exploded. It took him a second to drop her in the forest near his house and he made to take off.

"Brandon, please!" She screamed, but even before saying it she knew it was useless. His eyes were dead and his face was completely blank, right now nothing would reach Brandon. The only thing that made him even look like a human instead of a statue was the tears running down his cheeks.

He took off, and she watched in horror as the house was slowly demolished, with him running through it again, and again, and again. She was almost sure she could hear the screams coming from inside, but she was truly too far to really tell, and she wasn't able to move. After about an hour of this slow destruction, she was able to barely see him raise above the wreckage of the house and then he rained fire on it. His heat vision quickly set ablaze to the tons of wood spread around and soon what had been the Breyer house was a gigantic bonfire.

Finally, he came back and descended in front of her. He took the couple of steps separating them and then collapsed, with her just barely able to move in time to catch him. He screamed and cried for the rest of the night, Caitlyn holding him in her arms.


	16. His Ship

The sun was coming up and Caitlyn hadn't managed even a minute of sleep. She was sore all over, having had to spend nearly three hours sitting on the dirt while resting her back on a tree and her legs were cramped but she didn't want to move them just yet. Brandon was lying on the floor, his head on her lap and she couldn't tell if he was awake or not. She had a hand on his hair, patting him mechanically.

He had killed his parents. She knew he was gonna do it before he did it, but still, the reality of that was almost dizzying. She didn't know what to think about that, she had liked his parents and the realization that she'd never see them again was heavy. But then again, the reason they had died was what they tried to make her do and that lessened the sadness of it a fair bit. They had roped her, a thirteen year old girl, into killing someone, and her boyfriend at that. Their son. They had seemed desperate, but still, good people don't do that, do they? Maybe they deserved it? She certainly didn't feel as sad as she expected, but maybe she would, when she was a little bit less angry at them. But still, the fact that they were gone, that Brandon was now an orphan, was huge. He was alone.

Wait no, he wasn't alone. Didn't he have an aunt? He'd probably be sent to live with her and her husband, and that meant that he'd be asked questions. Brandon wasn't a good liar at all, would he get caught? Maybe he would just run away and live alone, but what did it mean for her? Would he take her with him? Would she want to go? He'd suggested that very thing at the school, and she hadn't been ready then, but quite a few things had happened in the past day. No, she couldn't leave her mother just yet but she also knew that Brandon wouldn't leave her so what was gonna happen?

When the sun was finally above the horizon, Brandon stirred and slowly sat down. He looked away from her, she assumed so she wouldn't notice him wiping his eyes which almost made her snort, it wasn't like her shirt wasn't still wet from his crying. As soon as he sat up, she stood and started moving her legs to get some sensation back on them.

He stood too or, more exactly, he slowly floated up until he was in a standing position, still looking away from her. That was unusual, while he liked using his powers, he still mostly acted normally unless he wanted to show off or, well, destroy things and people. She frowned, maybe he was just too shaken still. He was staring at the direction of where his house had been.

"We have to go back," he said, his voice hoarse.

"Yes," she agreed, looking at him. He looked at her with a frown, clearly not having expected her to simply agree. She sighed, "it's something I've been thinking all night. Does your ship still talk to you?"

"Yes, all the time," he answered, looking away.

"Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence?" She asked.

"What?" He asked, still not looking at her.

"I've always hated that thing. Ever since you showed it to me, I just wanted to leave. It gives me the creeps, specially seeing what it does to you. It's not good. And I think it's no coincidence that it's also the only thing that can hurt you. Maybe it doesn't only hurt your body, it also attacks your mind, and its 'talking' is its way to do that," she explained.

He just kept looking away for a while, before he finally spoke. "You're probably right, that's why we have to go back."

"What?" Now she was confused, "where you talking about the ship before?"

"Yes, nobody will use it to hurt me," he said, finally looking back at her, but there was something in his expression. His eyes were green, but he looked... broken, as if there was something behind his eyes that couldn't be fixed. It caused an almost overwhelming sadness in her to see him this hurt, but she didn't know what to say so she just gave him a hug.

He, however, seemed to be all cried out because he disentangled himself from her and then picked her up bridal style. He didn't say a word, and was looking away from her again. Slowly, they flew towards his house, but soon they heard voices. Of course, people had come to investigate the fire.

"Fuck," he whispered and left her on the floor.

She grabbed his hand before he could leave. "Please, don't hurt them, they didn't do anything to you. You can just scare them away."

He just looked at her with the same pained expression and took off, letting go of her hand. He flew quite high, until he was almost a speck in the sky, and then he shot beams towards the house's wreckage. She heard screaming and quickly walked behind a tree, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening. There were people running in the direction of the highway and she sighed in relief. For once, he had listened to her.

About five minutes later, she saw him descend at the edge of the forest and stand there unmoving. She blinked a couple of times -she had expected him to come pick her up- but it wasn't like she couldn't walk the short distance so she did. As soon as she was a couple of steps from him, he started walking towards the barn. She frowned, something was definitely off with him but she really couldn't blame him. What do you even say to a person who just killed his parents after they tried to kill him? She simply hurried a bit and fell on step with him but he just looked straight ahead.

They found themselves in front of the ship, but he just stared at it. She looked between him and the ship a couple of times before she spoke, "well...?"

Her voice did seem to wake him up from a trance, for as soon as she talked he started using his heat vision on the ship. At first it seemed like the metal wasn't gonna give, but soon the beams were piercing it and it was quickly split in half, and he kept using his eyes to continue dismantling it. After about half an hour, all that was left of the ship was big pieces of red hot scrap metal. After it cooled a bit, he flew away and came back a second later with rope. Moving so fast he was a blur, he tied all the pieces together, grabbed them and flew straight up, blowing a hole through the roof.

After fifteen minutes or so, he came back. Floating near the trapdoor, he spoke in a monotone, "let's go."

"What did you do with all that?" She asked while she climbed the wooden ladder.

"Threw it into space," he answered before walking away.

Once she was back on the barn's level floor, she asked, "why did you break it first? Couldn't you just throw it away and be done with it?"

"If I had let it continue speaking to me, I might not have been able to do it. And if for some reason I didn't throw it far enough to break earth's gravity, I didn't want anyone finding it in one piece. Also it's more likely for the destroyed pieces to disintegrate on reentry," he elaborated, still in a monotone. He stopped at the entrance of the barn.

"That could happen?" She asked when she was next to him again. "You should've thrown them with all your strength."

"I did," he answered, pointedly looking at his house's ruins. "I think they're reaching interplanetary space as we speak, but wanted to be sure."

"That's good," she said, and she couldn't help but smile a little, finally the thing was gone. He was still looking at the wreckage and, looking at it too, she whispered, "what are you gonna do now?"

"I don't know."

"When they find you, they'll probably send you with your aunt and uncle," she said.

"Yes," he said.

"Do you want that?" She asked, looking at him.

"I don't know," he answered.

"Will you tell them? About, you know, your powers?" She asked.

"No," he stated.

"They'll have questions, though," she pointed out.

"I'll think of something," he said, his voice still inexpressive.

"Or you could just not answer," she offered. She didn't feel like telling him that he was a terrible liar, but didn't want him to lose another house. "They'll probably believe that you don't want to talk about it."

"Sure," he said.

"Do you... Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

He just kept looking at the ruins, not even giving indication of having heard her.

"Hey," she said. His refusal to look at her was getting annoying. "Are you there? Why won't you look at me?"

For what was worth, that did make him look at her but, while his face was still blank, his eyes were red.

"You tried to kill me," he said slowly.

"What?" She asked, her mouth dropping open.

"You had one of the pieces and were next to the bed," he said. "You tried to kill me."

"No!" She exclaimed. "I didn't! I couldn't do it!"

"But you still tried it, you didn't tell me what they asked you to do as soon as they asked you," he pointed out, lifting himself about a foot off the floor. Now he was looking down at her.

She went to grab his hand but he just crossed his arms and floated a couple of feet away from her. Now she was crying to, "Brandon! I didn't! I wouldn't have been able to! I wasn't!"

"Why didn't you tell me? Since when was this planned?" He asked, his voice showing no emotion.

"It was last night!" She all but screamed. "When you and your father were out your mother told me!"

"So that's why they really invited you," he said, more to himself than to her. Even though his face was still a mask, his voice let out a bit of the pain and betrayal he was clearly feeling.

"I guess so," she whispered, wiping her tears.

"But still, you didn't tell me. You agreed to it," he stated, his eyes boring into hers.

"I... I didn't know what to say! Your mother, I tried to tell her no!" Caitlyn exclaimed, she could feel the coming panic attack but she knew she had to fight it. The last thing she should do right now was showing him fear, that would just make him angrier. "But she wouldn't let it go! I knew she would keep insisting until I said yes! They were going to do it anyway! You saw your dad!"

"What do you mean 'they were going to do it anyway'?" He asked, his voice was a monotone again. "So are you saying that you tried to kill me to protect them?"

"NO!" She screamed and covered her face with her hand. Finally an idea came to her, "I just hoped that I could find a way to convince them not to! But I needed time to think!"

"DON'T!" He screamed back and the anger in his voice made her drop her hands. Now his face was very much showing an insane fury. "YOU WERE IN FRONT OF THE BED! YOU TRIED IT! DON'T LIE TO ME!"

She dropped to her knees, crying much like she had cried last night when she couldn't do it. "Brandon, please! Your mother! She told me that you could not be stopped! That it was the only way!"

Now that she was on her knees, he allowed himself to drop down to the floor and she looked back up at him. No, looking down on her wasn't the reason he'd stopped floating; his face was quickly shifting from anger to sadness. She had been wrong earlier, he still had some tears.

"And you wanted to stop me," he spoke at last, his voice a whisper.

She hiccuped a couple of times before she could talk again. "You know I don't want anyone to get hurt!"

"Except for me," he sentenced.

"No!" She screamed again. "I couldn't do it! I can't do it! Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry I tried it! I shouldn't have listened to her!"

He looked at her for a long while, before his face became again an emotionless mask and he said, "don't worry, Caitlyn, you succeeded in one thing."

"Wh... what?" She asked, bewildered.

"You wanted to get rid of me," he said. "And you will."

And he slowly floated up and away.

"Brandon!" She exclaimed while she jumped to her feet. He just picked up speed and soon he all but disappeared in the direction of the forest.

She ran after him, screaming his name over and over, but it was useless. He wasn't going to come back.


	17. His World

"Brightburn takes down fighter jet" was the title of the video she was currently watching.

She hated the moniker they've given him. It might be appropriate because his stunts had begun there, but still, that was also the reason why the town had evacuated en masse out of fear of Brandon. After the attack in front of the school and the death of the Breyers, the police had established a reward for information on him as well as a manhunt, but Brandon had retaliated simply by destroying the police department. She liked to try to cheer herself up with the idea that, despite everything, he still had somewhat listened to her: he had only killed a few of them to make an example to the others, whom he allowed to run before he demolished the building. It wasn't very cheerful.

A few days later, the national guard got involved but Brandon all but obliterated the division sent to establish order. As word had it, it must have been a veritable horror show: he made sure to plunge into different officers and to hit and run from different sides. According to the testimony of the few survivors, he seemed to like seeing the soldiers devolving into a chaotic, terrified mess and he made liberal use of his heat vision so that multiple explosions accelerated the process. Finally, he'd killed all except the ones who were crying, whom he had ordered to tell others about him. She wasn't sure if that was also an instance of his listening to her or if he had just left them alive because it stroke his fancy and just remembered her words at the last second; she liked to tell herself that it was the first but, in truth, he'd killed many more soldiers than he needed to. She'd cried when she read and saw pictures of the aftermath.

After he was done with the squad was when the fighter jets came, and that was recorded by a few people on the ground. He was flying towards the jet and the pilot had responded by firing a missile at him, the explosion obscuring most of the cellphone's field of vision but after it cleared, he was floating in the air. Although he was too far to really discern anything, it was obvious that his cape was gone and evidently he noticed because he flew away immediately afterwards... right into the jet, which exploded in the distance. It wasn't the first time she'd seen this video, but the spark of fear she felt at seeing a missile hit him was still there. She wondered why he had taken such a stupid risk, and the best she could come up with was that maybe he just wanted to see if he could. She hoped that he'd just detonate any future missiles with his heat vision. In any case, if he did want to prove the point that not even missiles would take him down, he had succeeded. After that one time, nobody else came, or at least no squads or weapons came. However, passersby started appearing with regular frequency, many of whom asking what the whole thing was about, but it was difficult to tell if those were spies or true passersby.

She wished that Brandon would release a statement or something over the internet asking to be left alone; she didn't want him to get caught even though he wouldn't speak to her. He had reappeared later the same day he left her behind, he'd gone to his aunt and uncle's house and, as Caitlyn expected, they took him in. She'd tried to go visit a few times, but whenever she went, Brandon was always absent even though his aunt would always say that she'd been sure that he was upstairs. She eventually stopped trying, it was obvious that he was done with her; she didn't even notice him near her house like the last time he hadn't talked to her, but she liked to cheer herself by pretending that he had just gotten better at keeping himself hidden. It wasn't very cheerful either.

About a month after Brandon's fight with the national guard, when it became increasingly apparent that the government wasn't going to do anything about Brandon, specially after he destroyed a bridge, was when people really started leaving. She had had to say goodbye to Gwen, who went to live with her mom in Texas and not two weeks later the process repeated with Michelle, whose parents moved to Topeka. Even she had to leave for her mother was insistent on moving to the nearby Kingman, despite Caitlyn's objections and insistence that they were safe from Brandon and that their location wouldn't make any difference if they weren't. Her mother didn't accept any excuse and threatened to tell everyone what she knew if they didn't leave. Caitlyn didn't really believe her because it was likely that everyone would take Erica for a lunatic, but she didn't want to risk becoming an orphan either way. It's not like she had a reason to stay either.

And so they left, and so did most of the town, even the McNichols left but she never got her mother to tell her where to, but she suspected that it was another nearby town, probably Stuckton, because while the official story on Brightburn was that it was now under research by the government to find out where Brandon had come from, the truth was that Brandon wouldn't let any part of the armed forces close so the place was very much a ghost town now. He did, however allow random people to walk into the town as long as they weren't wearing uniforms and it was thanks to the videos posted by those people that she knew how abandoned the town was. She almost admired the courage of the few families who still hadn't left even though most facilities had been closed.

In the meantime, Brandon had expanded his horizons far, far beyond Brightburn: He'd punched a hole through the Wall of Lamentations in Jerusalem, he'd destroyed part of the roof of the Sistine Chapel, he'd demolished several Tibetan temples and repeated the action in Shinto temples in Japan. He'd stolen the Black Stone from Mecca and the Redeemer statue from Rio de Janeiro and hid them who knows where. Finally, apparently just to establish himself as not just evil but also a jerk, he'd set Notre Dame back on fire and made sure that this time it burned to the ground.

She was watching one of the many videos of him demolishing part of the Cathedral of Canterbury -and trying to ignore the many anguished cries about it from the people gathered outside- when she got a text from one of her classmates. Well, not technically a classmate, Carlos was a sophomore while she was a freshman in Kingman High School, but same difference really.

**Carlos: Hey, wanna have dinner at my place this friday? Mom's making paella**

He'd been trying to get her to go out with him practically since he saw her sitting at the bleachers for one of the school's baseball games -he was a pitcher- and she refused him for months. After her birthday, though, she decided that there was no point in hoping that Brandon would ever come back, so she assured herself that she could move on. And she really could do worse, Carlos was really handsome, tall with dark hair and eyes and it was actually really flattering that one of the athletes, who was also an upperclassman and who could go out with pretty much any girl her grade or _his_ grade, would be so interested in her. So she'd accepted, and they had gone on a few dates. To her surprise, he'd always been very respectful, never giving her more than a peck on the lips, for which she was thankful.

**Caitlyn: IDK, what if ur parents dont like me?**

**Carlos: Y wouldnt they? U r adorable**

**Caitlyn: Stop it...**

**Carlos: Come ooooon**

**Caitlyn: Fineee, at seven?**

**Carlos: Awesome, I'll come pick u**

She snorted at that, he lived a fifteen minutes walking distance, but he'd gotten his learners' permit two weeks ago and now wouldn't miss a chance to drive his father's Mercedes whenever he could. After the short chat, she went on to keep watching videos about Brandon, and she felt guilty. It was unfair to Carlos that she still had feelings for someone else, but she couldn't help it. Watching what he was doing, even if it was terrible, was the only thing she had of him know, and the only way to know that he was even alive. She hoped that eventually she'd stop caring, and that's why she was dating Carlos, hoping he'd help her forget faster.

But the next video wouldn't help her with that: it was again the bald alarmist talking about Brandon. But it wasn't that what worried her, it was the fact that lately he'd been talking about similar things or people like "Brightburn" appearing all over the world. There was a some kind of merman attacking boats near the Mariana Islands. Apparently some witch was moving in eastern Europe, making men kill themselves using ropes she'd hexed. Some kind of machine had been attacking people in South Africa. There were a few others, but the bald vlogger focused on those more because, to him, they were the most dangerous. His theory was that they were aliens come to destroy or conquer Earth, and she, if nothing, admired how right he was, at least when it came to Brandon. "Brightburn" was his main target because all evidence suggested that he was by far the most dangerous of the four, and was also the one attacking the most places.

Some other vloggers had different theories, like this being work of the lizard people finally taking over the world, others saying that these people were secret new weapons to replace nukes and yet some others were saying that these were signs of the Apocalypse. Brandon's focus being mostly on religious sites sure helped with that. She would love to know why he'd been focusing on those but she probably never would. As it was, all she could do was hoping that Brandon wouldn't lead to worldwide war. The fact that it hadn't happened yet was probably in itself a miracle according to what she'd read about it; the reason was that, because Brandon was attacking sites of every religion, the affected nations had been able to maintain relative peace by being unable to blame one another. Governments of different countries had proclaimed that this wasn't terrorist work by any particular faction, but instead that they all had a common enemy even if the motives for his sacrileges were unclear.

She just wished that he at least talked to her, she wanted to know what he was thinking, what he was feeling, if only just to put her mind at ease. She wanted to feel like his rapidly escalating attacks weren't her fault, that he'd always planned this but something always told her that she could have prevented many deaths. If only she had stood her ground to his mother, if only she hadn't let herself be talked into that so easily. But no, much like when the first time he killed, the best that she could do to cheer herself up was repeating in her mind that it hadn't been her fault, he was the one doing all those attacks, not her. That ultimately it was his choice, and she had nothing to do with it. It wasn't very cheerful.

Her divagations were finally interrupted by her mother, who called her to dinner. They ate in silence, they barely talked since moving to the small house in Kingman, something that Caitlyn was perfectly ok with. However, she remembered the earlier chat with Carlos and thought it best to still ask for permission.

"Hey mom," she said after she was done eating.

"Yes, honey?" Erica asked with a smile.

"Carlos invited me over to dinner with his parents next friday, is that ok?" She asked.

"Of course, sweetheart, have fun!" Erica said with a huge smile that almost made Caitlyn want to slap her mother. She knew that Erica was happy because she considered Carlos a huge improvement over her previous boyfriend, and Caitlyn couldn't help but resent her for that opinion even if it was probably true.

That night, as usual, she fell asleep thinking about red eyes.


	18. His Word

They were driving to Carlos's house. Well, he was driving, she was reading yet another article about "Brightburn", this one about whether or not he was even human under the mask. It was mostly garbage -one of the theories actually saying that he was actually a colony of insects that only flew in a human shape to appear less conspicuous- but she couldn't keep herself from reading everything she found about him, even ridiculous speculation. That is, until the screen in her phone flickered, making her frown.

"Oh, damn," she said.

"What?" Carlos asked, his eyes on the road. He was taking the fact that he only had a learners' permit very seriously, even if he had deliberately taken a longer route just so he could drive the car a little bit more.

"My phone," she answered. "The screen might start to fail. Piece of crap, only a little more than a year and it's already failing."

"My dad says that they do that on purpose, to make people change their phones every year," Carlos said.

"That's awful."

"So he says, but such is life. Maybe next you should get a..." He was interrupted by his phone ringing at that moment. "Must be my mom, wondering why we're taking so long."

She giggled at that. His mother didn't need to worry since they were parking in front of the garage right at that very moment. After she unfastened her seat belt, he made her turn her head and gave her a kiss. She did her best not to think of Brandon and enjoy the kiss, but when he opened his mouth a little to deepen it, she couldn't help but pulling away awkwardly.

"Sorry," she whispered, averting her eyes.

"It's alright," he said with a small smile before turning to look back at the house. He frowned.

At first, Caitlyn thought that he was annoyed but then she looked at the house too and noticed that all the lights had gone off.

"That's weird, they were on just a moment ago," she pointed out unnecessarily.

"Yeah, maybe the power went out or something," he said.

She looked at the rest of the street and could see that all other houses still had their lights on. Starting to feel uneasy, she said "but it's only here."

As if to answer her, all the lights went out in the rest of the street too. She frowned even more now.

"Huh," Carlos said. "I guess it is the power."

"I suppose..." she said, and left the car after him, trying to ignore the sudden feeling that she was forgetting something.

After he opened the door and they walked in, he called out, "Mom? Dad? You around?"

There was no answer but she still followed him as he went into what she assumed was the dining room.

"Mom? Dad?" He asked again.

"Hi Carlos," a voice coming from a person sitting at the head of the table said. It was far too dark to see who it was, but Caitlyn knew that voice, even if it was somewhat deeper than she remembered. Goosebumps broke out all over her skin and her heart froze, paralyzing her on the spot.

"The fuck?" Carlos said as he walked in, ignoring that Caitlyn didn't follow. "Who is there? Who the hell are you?!"

"Good question!" Brandon said. "Why don't you ask your... companion?"

He'd paused before saying the last word, and Caitlyn knew him far too well not to notice his anger the moment he said it, even if his voice didn't betray any emotion before that.

"What?" Carlos asked, and then turned to her. "Cat? Do you know this guy?"

"I..." she was incapable of speech right then. "He... He's... Bra... Bra..."

"What?" Carlos asked, now sounding confused at her inability to speak. "Who is he?"

"I think the word she's looking for is 'Brightburn'," Brandon offered, and Caitlyn could hear the mockery in his tone.

Carlos widened his eyes like saucers and turned back to the stranger, who helpfully let his eyes flash red at the same time as all of the lights turned on at once. _That_ 's what she'd been forgetting, her phone didn't have a problem at all. Brandon was sitting at the table, alone. His hair was a bit longer and his face was a little thinner than the last time she'd seen him, but he was still very much Brandon. Other than his red eyes, he looked normal, dressed normally, he didn't even have his hood and cape. He was smiling, though, but she wished he wasn't, his expression made him look like a wolf about to attack. He looked feral, and the smile highlighted that instead of making him appear friendly.

His eyes were fixed on her until Carlos seemed to finally recover the ability to speak. He stuttered, "where... where are my parents?"

Brandon looked at Carlos and his smile only widened, she really had to act soon. "I'm afraid to tell you that your parents are... indisposed."

She closed her eyes then, letting a single tear fall down her left cheek. She remembered then, what he had said when he came back after the first time he'd been avoiding her.

"What... what do you mean?" Carlos asked, but the crack in his voice made it obvious that he knew exactly what Brandon meant.

Caitlyn opened her eyes again, and looked at Brandon. He answered, "again, I think that is a better question for your _companion_."

Hearing him say that again finally allowed her to focus. She yelled, "Carlos, run!"

But Carlos only looked at her as if he hadn't understood her words, and then it was too late. He disappeared before her eyes and then she saw him sitting at the table, looking visibly pained. Brandon, for his part, was standing next to him and looking at her.

Before she could even open her mouth, Brandon spoke again, "don't even bother. And don't worry, I haven't broken his bones... yet."

Caitlyn breathed deeply before carefully choosing her words. "Can we leave? We can talk in private..."

He only tilted his head, still wearing that creepy smile. And then he laughed, "come on ' _Cat_ '. I think your _boyfriend_ deserves to know why **I** am happening to him."

He'd never called her by any nickname, only Caitlyn, he always seemed to like her full name, but she didn't have time to think about that. When he said the word boyfriend, any semblance of a smile disappeared from his face. Now there was only abject anger there, the same expression she'd seen on his face when he screamed at her that she'd tried to kill him.

She all but yelled, "he's not my boyfriend!"

Carlos by that point seemed to have recovered enough from the whiplash to look at her with a hurt expression but she couldn't bring herself to care. If breaking his heart kept him alive, that was a price she was more than willing to pay.

Brandon, for his part, only laughed again, a mirthless, mocking laugh. "Seriously, _Cat_? After all this time and the first thing you do is try to lie to me again?"

"Don't call me that!" She spat before she could help herself before adding, "and it's not a lie!"

"I JUST SAW YOU KISSING!" He screamed, his face again the incarnation of anger. "Lie to me again and I'll rip his head off and make you hang it in your room!"

She had almost screamed back at him, but his threat made her shut right up. That at least seemed to calm him a bit, for he went back to smiling.

"Now, come on, tell him why I'm here," he said.

"Cat," Carlos said in a whisper, "you don't have to say..."

"Shut up," Brandon interrupted and fired a beam into the table, causing a big burn mark. Carlos stopped talking after that. Brandon turned back to her afterwards. "Tell. Him."

"Carlos..." she started before clearing her throat and continuing. "Brandon, Brandon was my boyfriend."

"You were Brightburn's girlfriend?" Carlos said, the shock making him forget Brandon's order.

Thankfully, Brandon ignored him and he instead asked, tilting his head again, "was?"

"You left!" She exclaimed, and once she started she couldn't stop. "You left me there! And then you avoided me! I went to your aunt's place and you always left when I arrived! You never talked to me! You never said anything!"

"And just because of that you look for other guys?" He mocked. "Geez, if I knew you were such a who..."

"FUCK YOU!" She screamed, and then found herself pressed to a wall, his body all but pining her against it.

He'd clearly had a growth spurt during the months since they last saw each other because they were now eye to eye, or maybe he was a hair's breadth taller now, which only told her that in two years or so he'd tower over her. Not only that, his body was harder, more solid than she remembered, so he was probably starting to put on muscle. All of those factors on top of the fact that he was finally this close to her again made her belly flutter like crazy. She hated that, she wanted to hate him, and her body was betraying her. The fact that his chest was all but pressing against her growing breasts only increased her excitement.

Clearly he noticed her changes too because he looked down for a split second before talking.

"Careful, Caitlyn," hearing him use her full name didn't help her situation at all. "Remember that _you_ tried to kill _me_."

"I'm sorry," she whispered and, in her haze, she couldn't keep herself from kissing him.

He responded immediately, and before long they were full on making out. She had her hands on his shoulders while he had his on her hips, but his right hand didn't stay there for long, soon she felt him grabbing her butt and squishing. Unlike last time he did that, though, that only encouraged her further and so she enveloped his neck in one of her arms while she grabbed a handful of his hair with the other hand. At the same time, she lifted one of her legs and hooked it around his waist. This elicited a grunt from him and the hand that had been squishing her butt grabbed her leg to make sure she kept it there. Right after, he pressed himself against her even more, making her very aware of how _glad_ he was at seeing her again but not only that, giving their position there definitely was... rubbing going on, and that got a moan out of her.

"What the fuck?" It was Carlos's incredulous voice, which broke the spell.

Brandon pulled back and she blushed at his self-satisfied smirk. She knew she should be scared for Carlos, but she was actually glad at his interruption because she was certain that she _would_ have let Brandon do anything he wanted to her, even if she still wasn't ready. But if Carlos broke her haze, Brandon made sure that reality came crashing like a ton of bricks when he turned around a little and let out a bright red flash.

She squeaked out a sob and closed her eyes, letting new tears fall.

"Hey," Brandon said, making her open her eyes. To her horror, she saw him coming in for another kiss.

She quickly turned her face away and pushed against him to no avail. She whispered, "get off."

"No," he said undeterred. Since she was denying him her lips, he simply started nuzzling her neck, dropping little kisses all over it.

She really, really didn't want to like it and was thankfully able to catch herself just before she tilted her head to give him better access. She exclaimed, "no! Brandon!"

He grunted, and for a second she thought he was going to ignore her, but before she could repeat herself he'd taken a step back. He looked at her with a frown and said, "goddamnit, don't tell me you actually cared about that asshole."

She covered her face with her hands and let out another sob before speaking again, "he wasn't an asshole! he was nice!"

"And that's why you wanted him and his parents to die so badly?" He mocked.

"NO!" She yelled and glared at him. She was making sure not to look in the direction in which Carlos had been sitting. "I didn't! I didn't know they were going to die!"

"You really forgot? I warned you," he said, arching an eyebrow.

"No, I didn't forget," she spat. "I just thought that you were done with me! I thought I could try to move on! I didn't want him to die! I would have kept saying no if... if..."

Brandon snorted and she really wanted to slap him. "You try to kill me and then you try to replace me?"

"What was I supposed to do?! Just wait for you for the rest of my life?" She cried, but immediately wiped her eyes in anger.

"Yes," he said, his expression telling her that he thought that was the obvious answer.

He was infuriating. She didn't even bother to humor his ego this time. "Why did you even come back?"

"Fine, I'll leave then," he said, but he didn't move and his mocking smile and arched eyebrow showed that he didn't really intend to.

Still, she reacted exactly like how she knew he expected, and she hated herself for it. "No! Don't leave!"

His self-satisfied smirk was back and she looked away, though still carefully not looking at the table. "I just want to know. I did try to kill you."

"Caitlyn," he said slowly, and his tone did make her look back at him. He was angry, but at least no longer murderously so. "You denied it that time, and I'm giving you this one opportunity to explain. Don't even think about joking with that."

The gall of him, they were literally in the same room in which he had just killed her boyfriend, the body was right next to them. And _he_ was demanding explanations to _her_. Still, she thought better than pointing the audacity out, "you know I would never have been able to kill you."

"Really? I don't know..." he said, he was obviously enjoying this.

"What do you want me to say? I missed you, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you, I've been sad the entire time since you left. Is that what you wanted to hear?" She said, averting her eyes and blushing.

He was suddenly pressed against her again. His voice dropped an octave when he said, "how do I know you're telling the truth?"

"I know what you're trying to do. No, Brandon, I'm not going to do that. Not yet," she said, blushing even more. She looked him in the eye and continued, "you'll just have to believe me."

"Do what?" He asked. He smiled then, a genuine smile this time, and hugged her. "I missed you too."


	19. His Absence

Brandon came back after a few minutes.

"Where did you leave them?" She asked.

"Threw them to the sea," he said.

She turned her head around and wiped her eyes for the umpteenth time this night. He'd killed them and threw them away like garbage, but the worst part was that this time she couldn't even tell herself that it wasn't her fault. Yes, he was the one who killed them, but they were dead because of her, he'd warned her and even though she thought that the warning no longer applied, she should've known better.

"Stop crying," he said.

"I can't," she said, and added a sob for good measure.

"Fuck's sake," he said. "So what? Are you gonna cry for the rest of your life?"

"This is my life, so maybe," she answered with a glare.

He glared back, but said nothing. That really didn't help, she wished that he apologized, or that at least he seemed to regret anything he did, but she knew it was a lost cause, she'd known for too long now.

"I wish..." she started.

"What?" He asked, eyebrows raised.

"I don't know... Sometimes I wish that things could be normal..." she said, looking down.

"This again?" He asked, turning around. "We already talked about this, you had the option of rejecting me, you didn't. Are you having second thoughts?"

She had a feeling that he'd turned around so she wouldn't see his expression, or maybe so that he wouldn't see hers. Or maybe he just didn't want her kissing him to shut him up like the first time they talked after he killed someone in front of her. 

"I can still leave..." He offered again, and something in his tone told her that he actually was considering it this time.

She hugged him from behind, not missing that he was getting broader, and rested her face on the back of his neck. She whispered, "no, I don't want you to leave."

"Then why are you saying that you wish something else?" He asked.

"Because I do," she stated. He didn't want her to lie to him, so he should get used to blunt honesty. "But if I have to choose between not having you in my life and having you in it, even if that means people dying, then..."

"Then what?" He asked, even despite how close they were she barely heard his whisper.

"Then I'd rather be beside you," she concluded.

He turned around to face her, and there was a small smile in his lips, but what caught her was his eyes. They were the usual green, but there was something in his expression that almost overwhelmed her. He looked at her as if... She didn't even know how to describe it. It was more than possessive, it wasn't lust either, and not tenderness. It was like a mix of all three, but at the same time different. Nobody had ever looked at her like that.

"You are," he said slowly. "And you will be, forever. I'm not leaving again, and I'm not letting you go."

He didn't even need to kiss her to show that he meant it, and he just put his forehead on hers, clearly content with her closeness. Neither of them spoke for a moment, but she finally broke the silence, "I do want to ask a favor, though..."

"What?" He asked, his eyes closed.

"Could you try not to kill anyone in front of me again?" She said and couldn't help the nervous laugh that followed.

He smiled, and chuckled, before saying, "alright, I'll see what I can do."

Then he kissed her, but not heavy kiss like the one they had before. This was slow and tender, and he broke it himself after just a moment.

"We should probably get going," he said.

"Where?" She asked.

"I don't know, somewhere else. Don't feel like spending any more time in the house of the guy you cheated on me with," he said.

She huffed. "We were broken up."

"I think we established that no, we weren't. You were supposed to wait," he said, and his mocking smile was back.

"I hate you," she said, but couldn't help but smiling back. Yup, something was seriously wrong with her, they were talking about the guy he'd killed because of her and somehow she was smiling. She blamed Brandon, he'd broken her.

"I know," he admitted, putting on a sad face before smiling again. "Let's go!"

And he lifted her bridal style, making her aware, once more, of how their proportions to each other were changing. Now she was feeling as if she was supposed to be in his arms, while before it was awkward given that she was the taller one.

Still, she protested, "please, can I fly on your back? It's less scary that way."

"You're really weird," he said, but allowed her to climb piggyback anyway. "I'd never let you fall."

"Don't care, I prefer flying this way," she said just before all the lights in the street turned off. A second later, they took off and the familiar fear came back.

"Why'd you turn off the lights?" She asked as they were flying away from Carlos's street.

"Don't want to risk anyone recording me near there, I'm not wearing my costume," he explained.

"I see... Hey, speaking of which, I could help you make a better one. The ones you've used are very creepy."

"I like them, and how do you know it's been more than one?" He asked, she could hear the smile in his voice.

"I saw the video with the jet," she said. "And the others after that. The one you started wearing after the first got destroyed is a single piece instead of a hood and a cape separate."

"Correct. I'm glad you've done your homework, I almost feel like you're obsessed with me," he mocked.

"Shut up!" She said. "Why did you allow that missile to hit you? You could have made it explode with your lasers."

"Wanted to see if it would do anything," he said.

"That was a stupid risk, don't do it again," she demanded.

"Are you giving me orders?" He asked, his voice suddenly a monotone.

"No!" She exclaimed. "Not at all, I just don't want you to... well, to get hurt!"

He laughed. "Relax, I like that you worry about me."

She huffed before noticing that they were not just getting away from Carlos's house, they were leaving Kingman altogether.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Brightburn."

"Why?" She asked.

"Less chance of being bothered," he explained.

They fell silent for a while, until she realized that her mother might be wondering where she was. She grabbed her phone and was thankful that it still had signal, if a weak one. She quickly dialed her mother.

"Hello?" Erica answered.

"Hi, mom? Just wanted to let you know that... Carlos's parents invited me to spend the night and was hoping if I could," she lied, and ignored Brandon's soft laughter.

"Cait... can't hear... something about Carlos's... rents?" The signal was really weak, she barely understood her mother.

"Sorry, mom, my phone seems to have terrible signal lately. Can I stay?" She asked.

"Sure... heart. See... tomorrow," Erica said.

"Thanks so much, mom. Love you," she said, and hung up right when her phone's signal died completely. They were now flying above the middle of nowhere.

"She bought that?" Brandon asked. "Damn, you really are a good liar."

"Well, I had to be. Remember all the time I kept you hidden?" She said, but that did make her think of something. "Speaking of that, you went to live with your aunt and uncle, right?"

"Yeah," he said, his tone of voice suddenly somber.

"Have they... Have they figured something out?" She asked.

"I don't know," Brandon said. "My aunt kept trying to get me to talk for the longest time, but I knew you were right, I wouldn't let anything out if I just didn't talk about it. After a while she stopped, probably because I still do well in school and whenever I get out of the house, I do it without their noticing. I think she assumed that I just had to deal with it on my own."

She chose her next words very carefully, "so you didn't talk about it with her... Do you want to talk about it?"

"You asked me that, that time," he pointed out.

"Yes, and you didn't answer."

"What's there to say? My parents tried to kill me so I killed them first," he said, almost too fast for her to understand.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?" He asked, his voice strained.

"For everything, I'm sorry that they did that, I'm sorry that they talked me into it. You shouldn't have gone through that, I wish they hadn't," she said.

"It doesn't matter anymore," he said, but so low she almost couldn't hear him over the wind blowing around them.

"But..." she started.

"I said that it doesn't matter!" He exclaimed.

No, this time he wouldn't get his way. It was obvious that he wasn't ok with it. "No, you have to talk about that!"

"I didn't with my aunt, why would I do with you?" He asked.

"So you care more about your aunt than about me?" She asked.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed and then she felt a rush of adrenaline. For a split second she thought he'd dropped her, but he had just tossed her before catching her with his arms.

"What the...?" She choked out.

"Look at me," he said, and she did. His eyes were red, exactly like she expected. "I said that it doesn't matter."

"No," she repeated, arching an eyebrow. "You will talk about that! What's the worst that you can do to stop me? Kill me?"

She wasn't even sure why she was insisting so much, but something told her that he needed to let it out. Who knows, maybe he'd be calmer afterwards and more willing to spare people.

They were suspended in the middle of the air, but he just kept looking at her with no intention of moving. When it seemed like he wasn't going to talk, she opened her mouth, but he interrupted her, his eyes quickly filling with tears. "I miss them alright?! When they did that, when my dad came into the room... I kind of didn't want to feel anything, I just wanted to be done with this fucking world, with these... these humans, I wanted them all to die. I almost couldn't believe it, but I was so angry, I wanted them to pay, so I killed them! And it just made it worse, I just wanted to go straight into the ground and did with the entire world what I did with the house..."

He was crying openly now, but she wasn't deterred. "Why didn't you?"

"What?" He asked, tears continuing to fall from his eyes.

"Why didn't you destroy the world?" She knew why, but wanted him to say it out loud. Admitting it to himself might cause that such a horrible idea would never cross his mind again. Hopefully.

"Because you were there!" He exclaimed. "I couldn't kill you, I can't, I won't. That's another thing I didn't want to feel."

"And that's why you left..." She hugged him. He merely nodded.

"How could they have done that? Why did they do it?" He asked.

"I think they were desperate," she whispered, still hugging him. "They didn't want to see their son killing people, but didn't know how to stop you."

"They couldn't," he said, finally lifting his head.

"Yes," she conceded. "So, like I said, desperate."

"And that's why you tried it too. To stop me," he said.

"Yes," she admitted. She almost averted her eyes, but resisted the urge. Still looking at him closely, she added, "but like I told you, I couldn't go through with it. I can't. I won't."

He looked at her with an inscrutable expression before asking, "do you think they would have stopped themselves too? If I hadn't... you know... killed them?"

It was obvious that this question had been plaguing him since that day, but it caught her completely off guard. She truly had no answer, she couldn't possibly know that, but also knew that that's not what he wanted to hear. For that matter, she didn't know if telling him what he wanted to hear was the right choice either, but she couldn't think of a better one. Slowly, she answered, "no, they seemed pretty convinced about it..."

She wasn't sure if he believed her, and he just looked at her for a moment longer before lifting her on his back again and continuing the flight. Neither of them said anything until they arrived at his destination. Which turned out to be her old house. Her old room, in fact, which they entered through the window.

"Have you been living here?" She asked, bewildered.

"Not all the time," he answered.

There was a bed and a desk in there, and it was obvious that both had been used recently. There was a book on top of the desk and the bed was unmade. She looked around for a moment and back to him.

"You were watching me, like last time, right?" She asked.

"I tried not to," he said, looking at her with a blank face. "Like I said, I really didn't want to feel anything, but I couldn't stay away for long. I went every now and then, to check on how you were doing."

"I never noticed you," she said.

"I usually went for only a few minutes, in the middle of the night. I didn't come near unless I was sure you were asleep," he explained.

"And why did you come back now?" She asked, hoping that this time he'd answer even if she already had a pretty good idea.

"I went tonight, to your house... And saw you leaving with _him_ ," he said, his eyes flashing red for a second.

"How did you know where he lived?" She asked.

"As soon as I saw you with him, I went into your room and looked through your stuff," he said, not even caring about blatantly invading her privacy. " There was nothing, though, so I just followed you. When he finally stopped in front of a house I went through the back."

After that explanation, she lost all interest on talking about Carlos anymore, it was far too morbid for her. She was tired anyway so she sat on the bed and removed her shoes. To her horror, he removed his shirt and confirmed that, indeed, his arms were becoming thicker, his belly was flat and there was now an outline of abs there, and his chest was somewhat more defined.

"What are you doing?!" She asked.

"I'm not sleeping with a shirt, it's too hot, specially if you're sleeping next to me... Why? Like what you see?" And there was a _teasing_ smile on his face. The nerve!

"It's... It's..." she didn't even know how to explain that it was inappropriate.

"Relax, I keep my pants on. Unless you want me to take them off..." He said, moving his hands to his belt.

"No!" She all but screamed, "keep them on!"

He simply laughed before grabbing the book on the desk and joining her on the bed. The lamp in the small table next to the bed turned on by itself, allowing her to look at his book and notice that it was a book on world religions.

It didn't take a genius to know that that's how he was picking targets, and she took her opportunity to ask the question that the entire world was wondering about. "Why religious places?"  
  
He looked at her then and back at the book before answering. "Ever since those cops and later with the national guard I noticed something: whenever they get really scared, they start praying. So what best way to scare everyone than to show them than not even their holy places are safe?"  
  
"So you don't believe in God?" She asked.  
  
"I used to," he admitted. "Until I found out about... Well, about me. Seems like all I was taught about religion ended up being bullshit," he then looked at her and asked. "What about you?"  
  
"I... I'm not sure anymore, but I've read about people saying that this... that you, could be actually a sign of the Apocalypse," she said.  
  
He laughed at that before saying, "that's kind of cool. I can cause the end of the world, so they might be onto something,"  
  
Damn it, he was still considering that. "I thought that you wanted to... take it."  
  
"I do, and I'm working on that. Relax," he said with a smirk. "I said 'I can', not 'I will'."  
  
She wasn't sure how to answer, specially since his idea of 'working on it' seemed so strange. "Are these attacks part of the plan?"  
  
"I don't think I need 'plans', I can just keep going however I want," he said. "But these attacks should help them realize that the only power they should believe in is mine so yes, I guess I could consider them a step towards the goal."

"I see," she said without really meaning it.

It wasn't until they were ready to sleep when what was probably a silly question popped into her mind. "Wait, how come there's power in this place?"

He didn't answer for a moment, "huh... I never actually wondered about that, I just came in soon after you left and there was. There's also water still. Maybe they just never bothered to cut the services."

Afterwards, they fell asleep in their usual spooning arrangement, with his hand on her belly. It was as if they had never been separated at all, the only change being that she was now very aware of his hot skin on her back, even if she had her shirt on. Still, she fell asleep more comfortable than she had in a long time.


	20. His Cover

She woke up to her phone ringing but, when she tried to move Brandon's arm, he just pulled her closer.

"I bet it's your mother," he said to the back of her head, his voice heavy with sleep. "You can pretend you didn't hear it ring."

"She'll get worried," she said, but still stopped trying to move his arm.

"So what? As long as you're with me, you're in no danger," he said, and then started kissing her neck.

She giggled but still move her head a little to give him better access. She chose not to tell him that being with him at all would worry her mother. When he was turning her head so he could kiss her on the lips, her stomach rumbled and, as if on reply, so did his. He put his head on her neck again and this time she full on laughed.

"Guess we should eat something," she said after she calmed down.

"Yeah," he said, and then finally let her go.

She did the best she could to not stare at his bare chest while she picked up her phone. It was indeed her mother and there were ten missed calls from her. Frowning, she called back.

After one single ring, her mother picked up and all but screamed at the phone, "WHERE ARE YOU?"

She was taken aback, but then looked at the time in her phone and almost dropped it when she noticed it was ten AM. "I'm... at Carlos's? We slept in..."

"Don't lie!" Erica yelled. "I rang their home three times and nobody picked up and I went to your room and it looked as if someone had broken in!"

She cringed inwardly and, after silencing the microphone, she turned to Brandon, who thankfully had put his shirt back on. "You left my room a mess?!"

He looked at her and frowned. "I think so. I was in a hurry, you know?"

She barely listened to him, for her mother was again yelling from the phone. "Please tell me you're alright... Please tell me you're not with... with..."

"Brandon," she completed, rolling her eyes. "And yes, mom, I'm with him. He came back."

Erica was silent for a moment, after which she whispered. "Why is nobody picking up at your boyfriend's place?"

She couldn't think of anything to answer, but her silence was all her mother needed.

Erica started bawling. "Oh God... Oh God! He's going to kill you too, Caitlyn! I just know it, one of these days he'll get angry with you and he's going to..."

"Mom, stop!" Caitlyn yelled, trying not to even ponder her mother's words. "Brandon is never going to hurt me!"

"What do you even see in that boy?!" Erica yelled back. "He's a monster! Look at what he's doing! He's probably the Devil himself!"

Caitlyn had enough. "You know I tried to kill him, mom?"

Erica shut up at that, and Brandon's eyes flashed red, but she ignored him and continued. "He didn't hurt me then, what reason would he have to hurt me at all now?"

That placated Brandon and he smirked, but Erica finally got her voice back. "Are you saying that he can be killed?"

Caitlyn cringed, but she wasn't deterred. "No, mom, that's why I said 'tried'."

Erica let out a sigh, and then continued crying. "Maybe he's not really let that go, or one day he'll get bored of you and then... and then..."

"He won't," she said, glad at the finality in her own voice. She was certain now that Brandon would never hurt her.

"Give me the phone," Brandon said all of a sudden and Caitlyn's mouth fell open.

"Why?" She asked.

"Just do it," he said, and extended his hand. Not liking that even one bit, she handed him her phone.

"Hello, Mrs. Connor," Brandon said, a smirk still on his face.

She couldn't know what her mother was saying, but Brandon's eyes flashed red a couple of times. She was about to ask for her phone back when he spoke again, "no, Mrs. Connor, I won't 'leave your daughter alone' or find someone else. I want her, and she wants me, and nobody is going to get in the way of that."

She blushed at his words, but she sobered right up and was open-mouthed at his next sentence. "In fact, she will live with me from now on."

"What?!" She all but yelled but he raised a finger to silence her, which just angered her more. "You can't just decide...!"

"Goodbye, Mrs. Connor. Try to interfere again and I will hang you from one of the spires in the Hagia Sophia," he said before hanging up.

She glared at him and said, "I won't."

"Really?" He asked, and tilted his head much like he had done the night before. "Would you rather have me going to your house while your mother is there and risking her pissing me off?"

"I..." she didn't know what to say at first, and knew that her next words would enrage him, but she was feeling really stubborn. "If you hurt my mom, I'll ki..."

"No," he interrupted, no longer smirking and his eyes flashing. She really did know him well. "I let you say that once, I won't hear those words again. First, I wouldn't let you actually do it and if you did it while I'm not there, I will just get rid of this fucking world. _And it will be on you_."

"You can't just say that it..." she started, taking a step back.

"Yes, I can. I'd rather spend the rest of my life having fun seeing how scared they can get and what they do to try to stop me. But if you're not there... If you're not there..." he averted his eyes, clearly not wanting to even consider the possibility. He recovered quickly, though, and the smirk was back on his face. "You wouldn't be able to go through with it anyway."

"How can you know that?" She asked, glaring at him before turning away.

Suddenly she was in his arms, his face inches from hers. "I know you, you're too tough to just give up that easily. And if you were actually able to take a life, I wouldn't be standing here."

He was probably right; even without her mother, she would surely find a way to move forward. That threat was empty, but she had another, "fine, how about this? If you kill my mother, I will be done with you."

To her shock, he threw his head back and laughed. "I knew you'd say that. Do you really still think yourself able to get away from me? You said so yourself, you couldn't stop thinking about me even when I wasn't there."

"Things change, your killing my mom would sure change things," she pointed out.

"Maybe," he admitted. "But you'll get over it. You wouldn't be able to lose both your mom and me, and you would take me back. You know that there's literally nobody in this world better than me. And if you don't take me back then who knows, maybe you would be doing me a favor. There are plenty of girls willing to be with me. Girls who would do whatever I want them to, even spreading their legs..."

"You're an asshole," she interrupted, struggling to break his embrace, but he wouldn't let go.

He wasn't wrong, ever since he started attacking religious places, cults started forming around his persona, thinking him some sort of god in human form.

He chuckled at her struggles and kissed her on the cheek for a split second before talking again. "See? Look how jealous you got, you aren't gonna let me go. And relax, if I wanted something like that, I would've gone for it as soon as I heard about those cults. I want _you_. You want to know what would truly happen if you hated me for killing your mom? I wouldn't let you go, I would keep you beside me until you took me back, even if it took years."

"So you'd kidnap me and keep me locked until I accepted you again out of desperation?" She asked, glaring at him one more time.

"If that's what it takes, yes," he said with a shrug. "But I'd rather not to, which is why it would be best if you just agreed to live with me, that way I don't even have to interact with your bitch of a mother. Why are you even fighting it anyway? I know you like sleeping next to me. And you said you'd think about it, that day at the school. You've had more than enough time."

He wasn't wrong, she actually had no major objections to living with him other than the principle of fighting him for making that decision on the spot. She was being childish. After another glare, she sighed. "Fine, how about this? I will live with you some days and some others I'll live with my mother."

"Fuck, you're stubborn," he said before kissing her, fully on the lips this time. Resting his forehead on hers, he said. "Alright, I can deal with that for now."

"Good," she said with a smile. "But when you say 'live with you', what exactly do you mean? Something tells me that not with your uncles..."

"No," he agreed. "Like I said that day, name a place and we'll live there."

She thought it over for a second. "I mean, you're already living here, we might as well continue. I kinda liked coming back here and it's not far from Kingman so you could take me to school the days I stay here."

"Fine by me, I've also been going to school from here sometimes," he said.

"You're still going to school?" She asked. She hadn't been expecting that.

"Yes?" He said, arching an eyebrow. "Like I told you once, I like school."

"I see, and where are you studying?" She asked.

"Stuckton," he replied. She smiled at having guessed his location right.

Before they said anything else, his stomach rumbled again. He smiled, "right, where do you want to eat?"

"You've got money?" She asked.

"Yeah, some," he said, putting on his shoes.

"How..." She started asking, but stopped herself. She actually didn't even want to know how he got it. She just cleared her throat and said, "any dinner's fine."

"Alright," he said and a second later he was wearing his hood.

Taken aback, she asked. "Do you really want to fly with me right now? I'm sure there must be people watching this place, and it's the middle of the day."

He looked down at himself and then back at her, pondering her words. "I didn't think of that, but what other option there is? Walking to the next town over?"

She though it over for a second. "How about this? I'll walk out of the house normally and go into the woods, you can get out using your superspeed so nobody sees you and we meet in the woods. We can fly from there."

"Alright, sounds good to me," he said.

"Good, see you in ten minutes," she said with a smile, but stopped before leaving the room having remembered something important. "Wait, do you have any toiletries here?"

"Some, only one toothbrush though," he said.

"I guess I'll borrow it for today," she said, her face blushing a little, and she could almost see his smile from behind the hood.

Less than an hour later, they were at a dinner in Kingman. While they were waiting for their food, she checked her email. There was nothing out of the ordinary, except for a message from an account she didn't recognize with the subject " **I know who you are**." Thinking it was spam that somehow had gotten past the filter, she opened it.

_Listen, Caitlyn. I know that you're close to Brightburn. I still don't know who he is or what he wants, but all the evidence I've gathered points to the fact that he's close to some girl and I've ruled out all options, except for you, who are the most likely possibility anyway. I know he isn't family of yours and I don't know if you're with him out of coercion or of your own volition, but it's still important to let you know that you're being watched. I doubt that I am the only one who's reached this conclusion so I decided to contact you as a peace offering. I'm on your side and I'll be sending instructions of what you can do if he's keeping you against your will or, if he isn't, how you can keep yourself better hidden. Don't let him know about this email, we both know that he will turn murderous easily._

_KC_

Her blood ran cold and her eyes snapped up.


	21. His Weakness

"What?" He asked once he noticed her face.

She wordlessly passed him the phone. She didn't even doubt letting him know, an act which surprised her a bit, but it made sense. Whoever this person was wasn't going to stop Brandon and she was getting tired of inconveniencing him, specially since she had no reason to trust this unknown over someone she already knew wouldn't hurt her.

He read the message and his eyes flashed red, but otherwise gave no indication of being angry or anything at all. He passed the phone back to her and asked, "do you know who it is?"

"No, no idea," she replied. "This is the first message like that I ever get."

"Let me know of them every time," he ordered.

She nodded before asking, "do you know how to track them?"

"No," he admitted. "But I'd rather be prepared for whatever they might try on me... or on you."

His eyes flashed red at the last sentence. It was clear that he was more concerned about her than about himself, which reassured her few doubts about having showed him the message right away.

"What do you think I should do? About... this," she asked.

"I don't know," he answered before adding, his eyes on hers. "What do you want to do?"

"I think I should play along," she suggested.

"How?"

"I don't know. If they ask me anything, I'll try to answer... as close to the truth as I can obviously, and pretend I'm following their instructions. Maybe that way they'll reveal who they are," she said.

"And then what?" He asked, now seemingly far more interested.

"I... I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't..." she had realized the flaw in her plan far too late. Obviously Brandon wouldn't leave this person alive, and would probably make an example of him.

"No, do it," he said, as if he had read her mind, his eyes flashing red once more. "It's the only way to make sure that nobody tries anything against you."

"But..." she started.

"Would you really want to be kidnapped of worse?" He asked, an eyebrow arched.

"Why would I be?" She asked, rather unnecessarily.

"Come on, you're smarter than that," he said with a smirk. "As soon as they found out I had someone, they would try to see what they can do to that someone, if only so they could try to stop me."

Now she was starting to feel scared, It was obvious that he had considered many scenarios like that one already, and what he was saying made a lot of sense. Squirming in her seat, she asked, "what could we do? What should we do? Brandon, I don't want to..."

"Me neither. If they do something to you, I'll destroy this world. I fucking swear it, I'll protect you. Nobody is going to harm you," he said, and grabbed her hand.

She wasn't very reassured, however. "But you can't know everything that could happen..."

He let go of her hand at her words, clearly annoyed about being reminded that, despite all his power, he still had limitations. "What's your plan then?"

"I don't know!" she whisper shouted. Neither of them said anything for a moment, until she looked at her phone again and an idea came to her. "What about a warning?"

He was staring out the window, but looked back at her to ask, "what do you mean?"

"What if you publish a video. Dressed as... you know... as 'Brightburn'," she offered.

"And say what?" He asked, but his face showed interest at her idea.

"I don't know!" She said. "Something about how you'll punish whoever hurts anyone close to you or stuff like that. You know, like in the movies when the bad guy shows a message through all TVs. Only we don't need to do that, you could just upload it to social media and I'm sure it'll go viral. Everyone will watch it, and that way they might not do anything to me."

He pondered her words for a moment, but then asked, "wouldn't that only confirm that they can attack me through you and  that I'm worried? It'll show a weakness."

She put her face on her hands. Through her fingers, she asked, "then what's your idea? This is the best I can offer right now."

He stared out the window again, deep in thought. After a minute or so, turning to look at the empty table, he said, "the only other choice would be to keep you completely hidden, but I don't want to do that."

"Neither do I!" She exclaimed, lifting her head to glare at him. "I have a life!"

He looked at her before sighing. "Fine, we can try the video thing, I'll think of what to say without showing that they can get to me."

"Good," she said  with a small smile, which she dropped almost immediately before speaking again, "Brandon..."

She interrupted herself as she wasn't sure how to actually word her next thought. Fortunately their food arrived then, giving her a bit more time to think.

After the waitress left, he asked, "what?"

"If they know I'm close to... well, to you, it's only a matter of time until they figure out who you are, I think," she said.

"How so?" He asked, though he seemed to be pondering it already.

"Well, if they know about me, it wouldn't be hard for them to find out that you were my boyfriend at the time... 'Brightburn' started and that your parents died in a weird accident at the same time. You'd be the most likely suspect," she explained.

He nodded, wordlessly agreeing with her.

"What are you gonna do?" She asked.

"I'll keep doing what I'm doing," he said with a shrug. "I don't care if they know who I am or if they think they know who I am. I have no reason to accept whatever they think they can do with that information. They can't threaten me."

"Can we at least do that video before you go do... your thing again? I'd rather not be in danger if they think they can actually do something to me to get you to stop," she said.

He glared at her. "I'm not going to put you in danger."

"I know, I know!" She said. "But... still, please?"

He frowned but only nodded after a pause, and then they ate in silence.

After he was done with his eggs, he spoke again, a weird smirk on his face, "you do realize that, if they really are convinced that you are my girlfriend, or whatever it is they think, that your mother is in danger, right?"

She almost choked on her orange juice as she looked at him in fear. "What?! Why?!"

He shrugged again before answering, "if they think they can use you to get to me, they'll use your family to get to you, and you have no other family."

He wasn't even done talking when she had already jumped out of her seat and running to the door; they weren't far from her house and she was sure she could run there. She'd barely made it three steps away from the dinner when he stopped her.

"Yes, run straight there. If this really is a way to get to you, you're doing exactly what they want," he mocked.

"Hey kid!" It was the waitress, who had just stepped out of the dinner in a hurry. "You haven't paid!"

Brandon glared at her and Caitlyn for a second feared he'd kill her right then. Thankfully, he just took a one hundred bill from his pants and threw it at her while saying, "go away!"

The waitress grabbed the bill and, seeing the value, only smirked and went back inside, not even caring at Brandon's rudeness. The show over, Caitlyn made to move again, but Brandon grabbed her arm.

She spun to face him and all but yelled at him, a hint of hysteria in her voice, "what do you want me to do?! It's my mom!"

He sighed and, saying nothing, walked ahead in the direction of her house, and she quickly fell on step with him. Brandon was visually impatient as they walked, clearly not liking having to walk instead of flying but it's not like they had many more choices, but she was far too worried to even tease him for it.

Her phone rang with the notification tone as she was walking and she quickly picked it up, hoping it was a message from her mother, only to see an email notification. Not wanting to deal with the creepy spy or any chain mail right then, she just put her phone back in her pocket and kept walking. After fifteen minutes or so, they reached her small house and the door was ajar. With a small yell, she made to run again, but he stopped her on her tracks.

"I'll go first," he commanded and walked on without waiting for her answer. She followed, all but glued to his back.

There was no sign of any breaking in, the door had clearly not been forced, but there didn't seem to be anyone on the house. Once he made sure that the kitchen was empty, he told her to wait there while he checked the rest of the house. He came back after less than a minute.

"There's nobody here," he informed.

She fell on one of the chairs, no longer able to contain her tears. Blinking rapidly, she picked up her phone and, hoping that her mother had just not closed the door properly, she dialed. It went to voice mail right away. Her desperation increasing, she checked her messages. Nothing. Finally, she pressed on her email notification, hoping it was from her mother and that she had only emailed her because her phone was out of charge or some reason. The email's subject didn't help her any; it read " **Be careful** ".

_Caitlyn. Like I said in my other email, I am sending some instructions that you can follow. I didn't send them before because I needed some time to organize my data._

  * _Move away, as far away from Brightburn, the town, as possible. If you can leave the country and change your name, even better._
  * _Try to get away from Brightburn, the person. I know he might be difficult to avoid, but I'm sure you know better than anyone about ways to trick him; hide yourself from him as soon as you can and lay low, then proceed with moving away._
  * _If you're not actually being forced by him to anything, then try to keep your contact to him at a minimum, at least in public. You really don't want any more people seeing you two together. I won't divulge what I know, but there's no guarantee that someone else will be that courteous._
  * _Be more active on social media, if people think that you have a busy life, it will be easier for you to dismiss any accusation that you're connected to him. If need be, just invent stories about what you're doing._
  * _While you move away, **avoid places you usually frequent**. Seriously, even your own house. If someone else knows about you, that's the first place they will try to catch you. If you're at your house right now, leave immediately. If not, don't go there and ask your family to leave as soon as possible._
  * _Make sure to let everyone besides you and your family know where you are all the time. That way, if you disappear, it'll be known faster. I'll keep tabs on the social media of any acquaintances you give me and I'll blow the whistle as soon as they post about your disappearance._
  * _It's important not to let Brightburn know about these emails. We really don't want any more people dying or for you to be cut off from contact. It's important that we remain in contact, otherwise I can't help you._



_KC_

She barely even understood the words, still thinking about where her mother could be, so she just wordlessly passed the phone to Brandon. He was giving her the phone back and opening his mouth when the window to the backyard exploded and some sort of metallic object fell in the floor of the kitchen, near them. She jumped out of her seat with a scream, but before she could react, she felt a heavy sleep claiming her whole body. She fell on her knees before dropping to her side.

The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was a distant sense of horror at seeing that Brandon was slowly sliding down the wall, clearly falling unconscious too.


	22. His Nature

She woke up with a start and sat up, looking around her. She was in a room with dark grey walls and floors, mostly empty except for her bed, a desk with a computer on it, two doors in either side and a simple metal bar on which wooden hangers with white clothes were perched. Noticing the hangers caused her to look at herself and, with a blush, she noticed that she wasn't wearing her clothes, but clothes exactly like the ones in the hangers.

Freaking out, she jumped out of the bed and, ignoring the grey flip flops on the floor, she ran barefoot to the door on the left. It was locked. Quickly she ran to the other door and thankfully that one she could open, only to find herself in a simple bathroom with the basic toiletries and a shower. She quickly ran out and that's when she started screaming.

"Where am I?! Let me out!"

She ran to the desk and tried to turn on the computer to no avail, and that's when she let herself fall on the desk chair, crying hopelessly. A couple of minutes later, however, the door to the left opened and a couple of soldiers and a man in a button-up shirt and dress pants walked in. She sobered up rapidly, looking at the men bewildered.

"Hello, Caitlyn," the man who wasn't dressed like a soldier said with a kind smile.

Her mouth agape, she couldn't talk for a second, but she quickly gathered her wits. "Where am I?! Who are you? Where's Brandon?!"

The man raised a hand, as if to silence her, and said with the same calm voice, "I will answer all the questions you have to the best of my abilities if you follow me, Caitlyn."

He then motioned to the door for her to get out and, not knowing what else to do, she stood up. That's when she noticed that the floor was actually quite cold, so first she walked next to her bed and put on the flip flops. Her room opened to a hallway that seemed carved directly out of stone, with the only light coming from fluorescent tubes every two yards or so. It seemed like a mine, except that mines, at least in movies, always had normal light bulbs.

They walked for what seemed like ten minutes, with the man and the two soldiers following behind her, which was unnerving her more than a little. They passed next to doors similar to the one that led to the room she was in, but nobody told her to stop, until they arrived to a particular one, identical to the others.

"Caitlyn, if you could follow me here," the man said, opening the door using a key he was holding.

Still feeling on the border of hysteria, she walked behind the man. The room was similar to the one in which she had woken up, though quite a bit smaller. There was only a table in this one, with single chairs on opposite sides and two tablets on top of it. She also noticed the camera hanging from one of the corners of the ceiling and a huge mirror on the wall opposite the door.

The man took one of the seats and offered her the other one, and she sat tentatively. She was startled when the door closed, and noticed that the soldiers hadn't walked in, but, oddly enough, she didn't feel as scared as she probably should be. It was weird, but the presence of the camera helped her nerves a bit. If they were being watched, then this creep probably wouldn't do anything to her.

Once they were seated, the man spoke again. "Hi Caitlyn, I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier. My name is doctor Morgan Bishop, I'm in charge of the research for this project."

She only looked at him with wide eyes.

"I understand that you have a lot of questions. For where we are, this is a secret facility belonging to the government of the United States," he said.

She spoke then, interrupting his spiel, "why am I here?!"

He smiled to her -the smile looked more and more rehearsed every time he gave it- and answered, "you're here because you're an important asset in Project B-2."

"Project what?" She asked, her eyes still wide as saucers.

"That's only the official designation," he said. "We usually call it 'Project Brightburn'."

"Where's Brandon?!" She exclaimed, prompted by his words.

"He is... under observation," he said after a pause.

She narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe you, you wouldn't be able to stop him."

Now it was his turn to be surprised, though he composed himself very quickly. He didn't bother to answer and just grabbed one of the tablets, turning it on and passing it to her. On the screen was a video of Brandon, completely naked, lying on a metal table. She immediately dropped the tablet.

"What did you do to him?!" She all but screamed.

"We've been studying him," he answered.

She frowned, "you've been... How long have I been here? Why isn't he moving? Why isn't he awake? What is happening?"

"You've been here for three days," he said, his voice calm.

"Three... I was asleep for three days?!" She was starting to freak out.

"We couldn't risk to wake you up until we were completely sure you weren't like him," he explained.

She looked from him back to the tablet, "you mean he's only asleep?"

"Yes, the room he's in is being constantly pumped with the sleeping gas we used at your house," he informed.

That actually helped to calm her a little bit. For a second she thought that they had managed to kill him.

He continued, looking much more interested now, "you seemed concerned for a moment. Are you aware of any way to harm him?"

She returned his stare, but tried to show only anger on her face. "No, and if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."

He sighed, as if he had expected that answer, "we have resources, Caitlyn. Eventually we'll find out a way to harm him, just like we found out a way to disable him. Your reaction now has given me confirmation that it's not impossible."

"Good luck," she said, trying her best to look smug. "You say you're studying him, what have you tried so far?"

"Needles won't go through his skin. We've tried to cut him, to burn him, to freeze him and some other things. At least his hair can be cut, and he still drops skin cells and..." He paused for a moment, looking away, before he continued. "Anyway, we've been able to analyze his cells to check his DNA."

She was starting to feel interested, even despite herself, and he seemed to have noticed it even if she said nothing because he smiled at her again. However he said nothing more, and only looked at her in expectation.

Finally, she gave in, "and what did you find?"

"He's most definitely not human. There are sections of his genome that we haven't seen in any other creature on earth, we can't even make sense or replicate some of them," he admitted, a touch of frustration in his voice. "He's completely unique."

Despite herself, she smiled, she knew that.

He didn't miss her smile and, composing himself, his eyes bore into hers. "However, one thing we gauged from analyzing his sperm cells is that, despite what we don't know about him, he might be compatible with humans, at least sexually."

"Sperm cells, how did you even...?" Suddenly she was blushing. "You are gross!"

He at least had the decency to look embarrassed too, "one thing he also has in common with humans is that sometimes, young human males have nocturnal emissions, and he's been sleeping quite a while. We had the opportunity to gather another of his fluids so we took it."

"So gross," she repeated, not able to keep looking at him and now feeling even more embarrassed at the fact that Brandon was naked on the screen.

"Anyway," he continued, ignoring her. "His apparent compatibility would explain why he's looking to mate."

"'To mate'?" She asked, offended. "What are we? Dogs?!"

Dr. Bishop smiled then, but this smile actually seemed genuine, as if he was glad about something. Not missing a beat, he said, "so you agree that your relationship with the subject is not entirely platonic. There's a sexual component."

"A sexual..." She was blushing furiously now. "I want to get out of here!"

"I'm afraid we can't allow that yet, Caitlyn. Now even less," he said, again with the fake smile.

"What do you mean 'now'?" She asked, already dreading the answer.

"Have you had sexual relations with the subject?" He asked, seemingly not noticing how over the line the question was.

"I... I... What question is that?!" She exclaimed.

"One for which we need to know the answer. We don't know what kind of result would a copulation with the subject produce, and that's certainly not something we're willing to test. The last thing we want is more of him..."

"No! I haven't!" She yelled, interrupting his, to her, nonsensical speech.

"Your reaction suggests that that's something that would have changed in the future," he said with a monotone before he switched to a more normal tone. "Or, to put it another way, that you have considered the possibility and you think it might happen."

She was bright red now. "Well... I... he's my boyfriend!"

"Your boyfriend," he repeated, slowly. "So you haven't been coerced into this... arrangement and you see it as a normal romantic relationship."

She was getting confused at his wording. She stammered, "well... I know he's not... normal but... I mean... we kiss and that..."

"You are aware of everything he's been doing, correct?" The doctor asked, a shadow of anger crossing his face for an instant.

Before she could answer, there was a change on the screen. Two people wearing hazmat suits had walked in, carrying what looked like a large metal box. After leaving the box next to Brandon, they walked back off screen.

"What is..." She started asking.

"Another test," he answered before letting her finish. "That box contains uranium."

"Uranium?" She asked.

"Yes, we want to see how he reacts to radiation," he explained, looking at the screen with interest.

She felt a pit on her stomach. "You really do want to kill him, don't you?"

He looked at her, "it's not a matter of what we want. I, for instance, find him fascinating and wish I could study him for a long time, but the truth of the matter is that now that we know he's not human, he's been classified as a hostile, extremely dangerous, agent. For all intents and purposes, he's a walking weapon of mass destruction and it's not in the interest of the United States to let such a creature roaming around."

"But... he's a person..." she started.

"No, he is not. He isn't human, Caitlyn. I know that this is difficult to accept, specially if you feel romantically involved with him, but he's not one of us. That's why you need to tell us everything you know about him; we need a way to dispatch of him faster," he said.

She sighed and, fixing a glare at the doctor, said, "I told you, I don't know anything about that, I've never seen him hurt. And even if I knew..."

"You wouldn't tell us," came a female voice from a speaker. A speaker she couldn't even see.

The doctor, for the first time, looked annoyed. "Robbins, I'm not done..."

"Yes, you are, Bishop," the female voice interrupted. "You've been talking with her for thirty minutes, telling her way more than she needs to know and you haven't gotten anywhere. It's my turn now."

The doctor made a face but said nothing. Around five minutes later, the door opened and a woman dressed like a soldier walked in. Caitlyn could see that the two soldiers that had accompanied her there were still standing in front of the door. Bishop stood up and, only sparing a glare at the soldier, he walked out. The woman, who Caitlyn assumed was 'Robbins', took the seat that the doctor vacated.

"Good afternoon, miss Connor," Robbins greeted. "My name is major Samantha Robbins. I'm one of the people in charge of this place."

Caitlyn was getting tired of these adults and their bullshit. She merely crossed her arms and glared at the major.

"I'm going to make this easy for both of us. You 'boyfriend', like the doctor said, is classified as hostile party or, as far as I care, a terrorist. We don't negotiate with terrorists or those who abide them, like you," Robbins said, glaring at Caitlyn.

Caitlyn said nothing, even if this woman was starting to scare her. As if anticipating her reaction, Robbins simply grabbed the second tablet, turned it on and showed the video it was playing to Caitlyn. It was her mother, tied to a chair and it was easy to see that she'd been crying.

"Mom!" Caitlyn yelled, forcefully taking the tablet from Robbins's hands. "What are you doing to her?!"

"Nothing," Robbins said. "But we might start unless you tell us everything you know about this freak."

"You... You can't do that!" She yelled, openly crying.

"We can and we will. No measure will be spared to stop B-2," Robbins said, her voice disgustingly chipper.

Caitlyn looked from one tablet to the other. From her mother to Brandon. Looking at the box next to him, she spoke, "what if the radiation kills him? That way you wouldn't need me anymore and you wouldn't have to force me to say anything, right?"

"If you think he's dying anyway, what difference does it make if you tell us or not?" Robbins asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Because... Because I don't want to tell you anything!" Caitlyn said with a glare. "I'm not gonna tell you anything about him, specially if you kill him. I have no reason to help you!"

Robbins rolled her eyes and spoke a bit louder, as if there was someone else in the room she was addressing instead of Caitlyn. "Do it."

Her mother immediately started twitching and, even though Caitlyn couldn't hear it, screaming.

Caitlyn yelled in kind, "what are you doing to her?!"

"She's sitting on an electric chair," Robbins explained, looking at the video stream with disdain.

"Stop," Caitlyn whispered before she screamed, "STOP! PLEASE!"

"Fine," Robbins said, once again speaking a bit louder.

Her mother stopped twitching then, and her head fell to one side.

"Are you ready to tell us everything?" Robbins asked, as if she hadn't just tortured her mother.

Caitlyn loved her mother, she truly did, but she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she was the reason Brandon died. Crying brokenly, she whispered, "please, let's at least wait if the radiation harms him. If it does, then I know it won't matter and I'll tell you everything you want to know."

Robbins snorted. "Teenagers, caring more about their boyfriends than about their mothers. Fine, in a couple of hours we should know if the uranium can actually kill that thing."

Without another word, Robbins stood up and left, leaving the two tablets on the table. Caitlyn tried to turn them off to no avail so she was forced to see Brandon unconscious next to radioactive material, and her mother sitting weakly on an electric chair. She thought she was going to go insane, and the only thing she did with the food that was brought to her an hour later was throwing it against the mirror in a tantrum.

About two hours after Robbins left, there was again movement on Brandon's stream. Another, or probably the same, two people walked in and they touched all over Brandon with some sort of metal thing. After around five minutes of that, they walked out. Five minutes later, Robbins came back, walking through the door. She was smiling brightly.

"Good news!" She said with enthusiasm, "B-2's skin is starting to show signs of radiation damage. I guess it was easy to get rid of him after all!"

Her whole skin broke out in goosebumps at Robbins's words and she grabbed the tablet with Brandon's stream. She wanted to see for herself, but there was nothing on his body that showed any damage and she wondered if it was invisible. She couldn't stare for too long, though, her eyes were clouding with tears.

"Anyway, he's going to die, so you better tell us everything you know about him," Robbins said, glaring at Caitlyn again.

Caitlyn looked from the tablet, to Robbins, and back at the tablet. These people had kidnapped her and Brandon, and had been trying to torture and kill him, and were also trying to torture her mom, all in order to get her to talk. She couldn't see any damage on Brandon, and the two people in the hazmat suits had  taken five minutes examining him. If they found something, wouldn't they have run out right away to tell? She remembered the time at the lake, in which they tried everything to hurt Brandon. She knew they couldn't try radiation, but still, something in her gut, deep in her very being, told her that this didn't add up, that Brandon was tougher than that. She had no proof, but somehow she knew that Robbins was lying.

Caitlyn glared at her and, through gritted teeth, spoke, "you're lying."

Robbins's glare gave way to a surprised look, which she suppressed immediately. It was too late though, that was all the confirmation Caitlyn needed.

Robbins swore under her breath before yelling, "ok you little bitch, you're going to tell us how to kill this motherfucker or your mother is going to be the one to die in his place!"

"FUCK YOU!" Caitlyn screamed, but she couldn't help from smiling triumphantly, she really was glad about getting one over these awful people. "I TOLD YOU! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HURT HIM!"

"That's not what you said earlier. You said you'd tell us everything," Robbins said, wearing a triumphant smile of her own. When Caitlyn just crossed her arms again, she snarled, "fine, let's give this bitch's mother another shock!"

And on cue, her mother was twitching and screaming again. Caitlyn couldn't bear to look at it so she just stared straight ahead, telling herself that she wasn't doing this, that it wasn't his fault; it was these people hurting her mother, not her. She had lived in fear of her mother dying since that night Brandon came to her room after breaking her hand, and it was actually a morbid relief that ultimately it wasn't going to be him who killed her. Her heart was breaking, but she was growing numb and distant, hiding within herself. If this made the pain of her mother's death go away, then so be it.

"You really aren't going to talk?" Robbins asked, looking surprised once more, and this time not even bothering to hide it.

Caitlyn didn't reply.

"Next time, the shock will be fatal. If you don't talk now, your mother is going to die," Robbins said, now going for a conciliatory tone, and she even put one of her hands on top of Caitlyn's, which were lying inert on the table. "Come on, Caitlyn, losing your mother is not worth saving this monster. You know that the world is better without him."

Caitlyn didn't reply.

"Fine, this is serious, and I don't like this, but we really need you to talk. The next shock will start now and your mother will die of cardiac arrest within three minutes unless you speak. We need you to tell us everything you know about B-2 now," Robbins said, her face a cold mask.

Caitlyn didn't reply.

She just kept staring straight ahead without really seeing anything.


	23. His Resilience

She spent the following couple of weeks locked in her room -or was it her prison?- most of the time, only sometimes being brought up to interrogation with doctor Bishop, to whom she replied in single word answers. In the last three days, some woman named doctor Maria Cox, who called herself a psychiatrist, had been talking to her too, but even to her she didn't open up much, no matter how much the woman tried. She never saw major Robbins again.

"I believe you might have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder," Cox said during that day's visit.

"Ok," Caitlyn said, arms crossed and looking at the ceiling.

Cox let out a sigh, "Caitlyn, I'm here to help you, but it'll be much easier if you just talk to me."

It wasn't the first time Cox said something like that, and Caitlyn answered exactly the same way she had before, "help me by killing my mother? By keeping me locked up? By torturing Brandon?"

"The deal with your mother was... unfortunate," Cox replied. "Things got out of control and the facility deeply regrets it. Nevertheless, I wasn't a part of it and I don't condone anything they're doing, I truly am trying to help you. As for the subject..."

"'Subject'" Caitlyn repeated, sparing a glare towards Cox before looking back at the ceiling.

"With... Brandon," Cox corrected herself, "he's not being tortured. You very well know that nothing that Bishop has tried has managed to hurt him."

"I think that being kept in a coma counts as torture," Caitlyn retorted.

"And don't you think that what he was doing around the world counts?" Cox asked, but it wasn't a reproach, she seemed to be actually interested in Caitlyn's answer.

Answer Caitlyn didn't give; she just kept looking at the ceiling, unwilling to give the doctor anything.

Cox sighed again, "maybe seeing a known face will help you..."

"No!" Caitlyn exclaimed, finally looking back at Cox. "I don't want you to kidnap anybody else!"

"They've been here for almost as long as you have, but we're thinking of letting them go since they actually do seem like they didn't know anything about Brandon..." Cox said, seemingly more to herself than to Caitlyn.

"What?" Caitlyn asked. "Who are you talking ab...?"

Just then an alarm started blaring above them, interrupting Caitlyn. Not one minute later the door burst open and the two soldiers who were standing guard in the interrogation room ran in.

"Doctor Cox," one of them said. "We're to put you to safety right away."

"What's happening?" Cox asked.

"We don't know. As for you girl," the other soldier said. "You come with me."

Not even waiting for an answer, the soldier grabbed Caitlyn's arm and lifted her from her chair. She forcefully shook his hand off.

"Don't touch me!" Caitlyn exclaimed.

The soldier only glared and motioned her to follow, which she did. They walked for around ten minutes until they arrived to a different door, much larger than any other she had seen in the place. The soldier opened and ordered her to walk in. She found herself in some kind of control room, or at least that was her assumption. There were around fifteen people sitting in front of computers and there was a large screen opposite the door, which right now had the video stream she knew very well of Brandon sleeping in the metal table, though she couldn't help but notice that he looked thinner than the first time she'd been shown the video. He was also moving, which made her heart skip a beat, until she looked closer and noticed that he was clearly still sleeping, but he was writhing and his hands were grabbing his belly, as if he was in pain.

Bishop was right in front of the screen, yelling, "repeat yourself, I can't hear you!"

"Doctor!" A voice came from loudspeakers Caitlyn couldn't see. "All the sys... are fail... Something is causing short cir...!"

"What did you do to him?!" Caitlyn yelled.

Bishop turned towards her and motioned for the soldier to bring her next to him. Not that she needed any prompting; she all but ran towards the screen.

"Are you aware of any others like him which might be jamming our systems?" Bishop asked.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Caitlyn screamed. "What did you do to him?!"

"We don't know, we've tried many things," Bishop answered, no longer looking at her. "A few days ago we tried to force feed him radioactive material, but he just threw it back up and neither his mouth nor his esophagus showed signs of damage. If this were a result of that, he should have showed symptoms much sooner... But maybe it worked, it just took longer for his body to process the radiation..."

Caitlyn was still looking at the screen, with Brandon hugging his belly and thrashing in the table. He had a weakness besides his ship after all? She couldn't tell, but she also almost couldn't stand looking at him in such obvious pain.

"Are you sure you don't know what's causing this trouble?" Bishop asked, speaking over the intermittent communication coming from the loudspeakers.

She knew, of course, but she wasn't about to tell these people anything so she just shook her head, her eyes still glued to the screen. She new could see that he was, in fact, thinner, and he also looked pale.

"Have you given him any food of water?" Caitlyn asked.

"Of course not, we want him dead," Bishop answered as if it was obvious. "We were hoping that he would have died by now, but his body is resistant to even starvation and he's been losing weight at a much slower pace than a normal person. Nevertheless, he _has_ lost weight so we haven't given up hope."

"You people are horrible..." Caitlyn said between tears.

"And you are just a dumb girl feeling sorry for a monster," Bishop shot back. Clearly his fake kindness was reserved for formal interrogations only.

"Doctor Bishop!" The voice from the speakers came. "Everything seems to be going back to normal, maybe there was a problem with the generators..."

Bishop didn't answer, for he noticed that Brandon had stopped moving shortly before the other person spoke again. Caitlyn had noticed too, but she gave no evidence, still looking at the screen.

"Walters, check all systems, specially the ones feeding the gas into the subject's roo..." Bishop didn't finish the sentence, falling silent at the same time Caitlyn smiled for the first time in however long she'd been there.

Brandon had woken up.

His eyes were shining like coals at the same time as he jumped on the table, which was quickly smashed to pieces by his feet. He himself never touched the floor, remaining floating in the air. He looked around him for a second and then his eyes started shooting beams all around him, and the stream broke soon after.

"Sir!" The voice came back, a twinge of abject panic in it. "The subject is..."

"Awake!" Bishop yelled. "I just saw! Quickly! Shoot gas into the room!"

"Sir! The subject is out of the room already!" The voice screamed. "He's going through the walls, destroying everything!"

Caitlyn didn't hear any commotion near her and it dawned on her then that she had never been in the same place he was. Who knew where the hell they were keeping him. Or where they were keeping her for that matter.

"FUCK!" Bishop screamed. "Has anybody heard him say anything?!"

"He's killing everyone, doctor!" Walters yelled. "But from what I heard from the microphones in the rooms he's gone through, I think he's yelling the girl's name!"

Caitlyn felt her stomach fluttering, but still refused to look anywhere but at the screen, even if it was dark now.

"Well, tell him we have her then!" Bishop yelled.

"How, sir?! I repeat! He's killing everyone! And he's coming closer!" Walters exclaimed, he sounded like he was on the border of tears.

"Broadcast it then!" Bishop said. "Send the message to all the loudspeakers in the place!"

"Subject B-2!" Walters said, though clearly he was not addressing Bishop. "We have Caitlyn Connor!"

For a moment, the transmission was silent, as was everyone in the room around Caitlyn.

Then Walters spoke again, "he's stopped moving sir, but he hasn't said anything."

"Send a squad to the room or hall he's in!" Bishop said. "Quick! We can still put him back to sleep!"

"Sir! He just talked!" Walters replied. "He wants to speak to her!"

"Put him in!" Bishop exclaimed, a shadow of a smile crossing his face. "Whatever we need to keep him in one place. Connect the loudspeakers and the microphone near him to this transmission!"

A couple of seconds later, Walter spoke, "B-2, you can now talk with Connor!"

"Caitlyn," Brandon's voice came through, sounding so distant he was barely audible, but still him. He also sounded hoarse, very much like someone hadn't used his voice in a while. Caitlyn let out a couple of tears. "Are you alright?"

Caitlyn wiped her eyes and, turning towards the smiling Bishop with a mocking glare of her own, she yelled, "get out of there! They're sending people to knock you out ag...!"

Bishop slapped her, his face twisted into a snarl. She let out a small yell and fell on the floor, but she only fixed him with a triumphant smile even as she grabbed her cheek. And then she laughed, because even though Brandon sounded like he was far away, he must have heard clearly what had just happened.

"Caitlyn!" He yelled. "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!"

Then it sounded very much as if a wall had just been destroyed and the transmission broke up for a moment, after which Walters came back.

"SIR! WHAT DO WE DO?!"

"Tell him that unless he stops we'll have the girl killed!" Bishop yelled at the screen, glaring at Caitlyn.

"If you kill me, he'll destroy the world," Caitlyn said calmly while she stood back up. "Believe me, he can do it."

Just then there was a loud crash coming from the transmission.

"Sir! He's here..." Walters voice was interrupted by a sickening crushing sound. Evidently he had just had his throat snapped.

"Caitlyn," Brandon's voice came back after a couple of minutes of screaming. He now sounded much clearer, which let Caitlyn notice his fury even if he was speaking at a normal volume. "Where are you?"

"I don't know. Where am I?" She asked Bishop with another mocking smile.

"Subject B-2," Bishop said, ignoring Caitlyn. "You're a threat to the USA and the world at large. We cannot let you leave that facility."

"And what are you going to do?" He asked, a twinge of mockery in his voice. "I already killed everyone I saw in here. Who's gonna stop me? Their ghosts?"

"You're located in an isolated facility that also has a cache of nuclear devices," Bishop said, a smile slowly returning to his face. "We tried everything to kill you, except for that. If you already dispatched of everyone in that facility, we _can_ detonate those devices remotely."

It was silent for around a minute. Then Brandon's voice came back, "go ahead."

"Brandon..." Caitlyn said, no longer smiling.

"I've always wanted to test that," he said. "To see if at least their best weapon can tickle me. I'm sure it won't, don't worry."

"Put me in with the president," Bishop said to one of the other people in the room. "We need his OK."

"Oh, cool," Brandon said, now seemingly in a chipper mood. "I want to talk to him too."

"No, you won't," Bishop snapped.

"Yes, I will, or you won't get to try your little experiment. And then I'll just pay him a visit in person," Brandon said back, his voice a monotone.

Bishop made a face, but still nodded to the guy who was already dialing a red phone. After a couple of beeps, the call went through.

"Yes?" Came a voice from the other end.

"Mister President," Bishop spoke. Caitlyn looked around her to see that Robbins wasn't there and she wondered if Bishop was now in charge of the place. Not that she wished to see Robbins, of course, but still, even if she knew it was wrong, she kind of wanted Robbins to be there when Brandon came to pick her up.

"Who am I speaking to?" The president asked.

"Morgan Bishop," he answered. "I'm the lead researcher on Project B-2... You know, 'Brightburn'."

"Ooh," the president said. "How's that going? Is the brat dead yet?"

"No, sir. I'm still very much alive!" Brandon exclaimed, and Caitlyn covered her mouth to drown her chuckle.

"What's going on here?" The president asked, now sounding actually serious.

"Sir, the subject woke up and essentially destroyed Area 51. He's still there right now, alone. We need your permission to detonate one of the nuclear devices there," Bishop said quickly.

"How come he hasn't left the place?" The president asked, sounding confused.

"We think it's because we still have Caitlyn Connor under lock," Bishop explained.

"Who?" The president asked.

"My girlfriend, asshole," Brandon snapped. "And that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Before you try this thing, you will tell me where she is or I will go to the white house, ask _you_ in person and then kill everyone in that city."

"Brightburn has a girlfriend?" The president asked.

Bishop put his hand on his face. "You could say that, sir. Anyway, we just need your approval to kill this thing."

"Sure, sure, go ahead," the president said. Bishop immediately nodded to the guy who had dialed the phone, who started typing quickly on his computer.

"Alright, I'm at one second of just flying away from here towards Washington at full speed," Brandon interjected. "Tell me where the fuck you are right now!"

"We can deliver Caitlyn Connor to you at..."

"No!" Brandon yelled. "I want to know where she is _now_! I won't let the place in which you hurt her standing and I will kill everyone there too!"

"Fuck's sake, just tell him where she is. He's going to die anyway, and I'm busy," the president said before hanging up.

"Fine, fuck it," Bishop said in anger. "She's at an underground facility below the island of Ni'ihau."

"Hawaii?" Brandon asked. "Well, I did kind of want us to go to the beach, Cait..."

"All ready?" Bishop interrupted. The same guy who had dialed the red phone nodded. "Do it. Goodbye, Brightburn."

And then he ordered the connection shut. Caitlyn hugged at herself, looking again to the dark screen.

"Sir," a different guy asked after a couple of minutes. "Should we... evacuate?"

"It'd be useless," Bishop answered. "He either dies or he doesn't, and in that case he'll just destroy any ship near the island."

For the next hour, nobody said anything. After the second, Bishop was smiling again.

"Well, it seems like the creature wasn't as tough as he thought he was," he said to the people in the room, seemingly not even caring about Caitlyn anymore.

When the third hour rolled around, Caitlyn was now trying not to cry. She couldn't believe it, he left her alone even though she'd told him not to take another stupid risk. She hated him for that.

And then the whole room shook, immediately cutting the increasingly animated chatter around her short. She lifted her eyes and smiled through her tears.

"Sir," a woman choked out. "There's been a breach."

Bishop didn't say anything and, shockingly, he smiled. He looked at the floor as he said, "well, damn. He's truly something, huh?"

For a minute or two there was only the sound of crashes -and the rumbling in the room- becoming louder and coming closer.

"Where's Caitlyn?" Brandon's voice came from the other room after a while.

Everyone looked at Bishop, and Caitlyn only frowned. Why hadn't he just come in?

"I'm here!" She said, running towards the door.

"No!" Brandon yelled. "Don't come close!"

"What?" She asked. "Why?"

"I first broke into a nuclear plant to get cleaned," Brandon yelled back. "But I might still be covered in radiation."

"Oh," she said, stopping on her tracks.

"Really something..." Bishop said again, still standing near the screen. He looked amazed.

"Anyway, ask any of those assholes to tell me where in here I can clean myself better," Brandon yelled.

"It was a low yield device," the guy at the phone yelled. "But there is cleaning gel near the silo here."

The man then looked at Bishop, who merely shook his head. "It won't kill him."

"Send someone to guide me there, everyone is kind of dead on this side," Brandon said.

Nobody moved.

"Whoever guides me _might_ be spared!" Brandon yelled.

A couple of the guys immediately ran past Caitlyn and walked out. One of them screamed as soon as the door closed.

"I only needed one, now tell me where to go," she heard Brandon say.

A couple of minutes later one of the women yelled, "we should evacuate! If we leave him the girl maybe he'll let us go!"

Everyone enthusiastically agreed and they all cleared the room, until only Caitlyn and Bishop were left.

"Aren't you going to leave?" She asked, looking at him with contempt.

"He won't let me get out of here alive, not after..." He said.

"I wouldn't tell him it was you," she interrupted.

He actually smiled at her, "then he'd just kill everyone just to ensure that I died."

He had a point there. Not even she would convince him to spare them, in fact, she wasn't sure he'd let them go even if Bishop sacrificed himself, but she didn't get much time to dwell on it because the door burst open a couple of minutes after the short conversation. Not caring that he was naked she ran to hug him, and felt a pang in her heart at feeling that he was little more than skin and bones.

"Are you alright?" She asked, tearing up.

"Yeah," he said with a smile, then he stared at the bruise on her cheek and slowly put his hand there. She winced, but let him leave his hand there.

"That was me, B-2," Bishop said, raising a hand as if asking Brandon for a moment. "But before you kill me I just want to..."

Brandon had run his arm through Bishop's chest before he even finished the sentence. He then dropped the dead body as if getting rid of garbage.

Caitlyn looked at the corpse, deep in thought, and mumbled, "you told me you would try not to kill anyone in front of me again..." 

"Are you kidding me?" Brandon asked, his mouth agape.

She actually managed to smile. "He was an asshole. I don't like admitting it, but I'm glad he's gone."

"Where's everyone else?" He asked.

"He was the one in charge, do you really need to kill everyone?" She asked, rubbing a hand on her face.

"After what they did to you? Yes," he said, coming next to her again.

"I'm fine. I look better than you, in fact," she commented.

"Fine, I'll let them go for now. I'm fucking starving anyway."


	24. His Body

There was still some commotion, people running away from them as they walked, going for what she assumed was the exit and trying to put as much distance between them and Brandon as possible. The place was a labyrinth, almost impossible to navigate; the rubble everywhere and the trembling every now and then didn't make the matter any easier. She tried her best to ignore the bodies.

"This place is going to fall apart," she said.

"Maybe, but seriously, where are the kitchens?!" Brandon said, pulling the oversized pants back up. He'd stolen them from one of the corpses strewn around them.

She just shrugged and they kept walking. Finally his patience ran out and he disappeared from her side, only to come back a minute later.

"What...?" She started.

"This way," he interrupted and led the way through a particular hallway.

When he seemed on the verge of flying away again, they finally arrived to big double doors, behind which there were a few dining tables. Behind those, there was another set of double doors, likely leading to the kitchens, and Brandon disappeared in that direction. She quickly followed to find that, thankfully, there _was_ plenty of food, and Brandon was already gorging himself on half-cooked meat. He didn't even look in the direction of the vegetables or the soup and just kept tearing into the meat for the following twenty minutes.

Then the ground shook again, far more forcefully this time, and Caitlyn went on the move. She grabbed some sort of big metal bowl and a lid, took the rest of the meat from the frying pans and threw it in there, and also some vegetables for good measure. Brandon made to grab some of the food but she just pulled the now quite heavy bowl away and covered it with the lid.

"We're getting out of here," she said. "I'd rather not die buried in this place, you can eat all this if you want once we're on the surface."

"Alright," he said.

Satisfied, she handed him the bowl and climbed on his back to fly away, when she remembered something.

"Wait!" She exclaimed before he took off.

"What?" He asked.

"I think they had somebody else here. You know, kidnapped. People we apparently know," she answered. "I'm not sure they would remember to take them with them in their hurry."

"And?" He asked, lifting himself from the ground.

She hugged his neck before speaking. "Well, don't you care to rescue them?"

"Not really," he said, picking up speed as they flew through the hallways.

She sighed. "Please, at least take a look after you leave me in the surface."

"Sure," he said.

Soon they found themselves before a pile of rocks.

"This is where I came in," he said. "Must have collapsed."

She was starting to get scared. Even as they watched, some more rocks moved and fell. Before she could voice her fear, however, Brandon had already turned around and flown in the opposite direction. A couple of minutes of flying around and destroying doors passed, until one finally revealed stairs leading upwards behind it. She almost laughed in relief.

"Did you know the entrance was here?" She asked.

"After I came through that hole behind," he said. "People were running in this direction. Assumed I'd find the entrance around here."

"Good," she said.

A couple of seconds later he knocked down the door at the top of the stairs and, finally, she saw natural light for the first time in weeks. After coming out, she looked behind them and saw that the door was actually well placed in between some rocks, it would be difficult for anyone to find a door there unless they were explicitly looking for it. A few hundred yards in front of them, there were still people boarding a few warships, evacuating. Thankfully, Brandon ignored them and flew in the other direction, finally leaving Caitlyn in an empty beach in the opposite side of the island.

"I'll ask them who the hell they have down there," he said, floating away.

"Try not to kill..." she started saying, but he just waved a hand dismissively and flew off.

Being left alone again, she noticed that she actually was hungry too, so she took some one of the least raw pieces of meat and some lettuce and ate to her heart's content. It was actually kind of nice, eating while seeing the waves crashing. She hadn't seen the sea in years, the only time she had gone was on a road trip with her mother and her mother's boyfriend at the time. Remembering her mother made her pause with her hand in front of her mouth, a piece of meat dangling from it, and she burst out crying.

Her mother was gone, she'd never see her again. Brandon aside, she was alone, she had nobody else. She found that thinking of Brandon was comforting in ways she thought were probably different for other people because, while she might not have anybody else, at least her one person was someone who'd never leave her and she was certain of that now. Nothing would harm him, so he would stay by her side. Nevertheless, she still cried for her mother, knowing that there would never be another time in which her mother helped her get ready or helped her with school work or cooked her food. She was an orphan, and not just that, an orphan who was probably a target of anyone who hated Brandon, which now included the government.

She felt Brandon landing next to her after a couple of minutes.

"Why are you crying?" He asked.

Right, he obviously didn't know. She wiped her eyes and whispered, "they killed my mom."

After a couple of seconds, he offered an "I'm sorry," that he clearly didn't mean. Of course he didn't, he wanted to get rid of her mother basically since they started... whatever they had was; he was probably happy that someone else had dealt with that particular problem. Frankly she didn't even begrudge him for it, even if the reason her mother was dead was him, though he didn't personally do it. He had been attacked too, after all.

He sat next to her and she felt his arm around her shoulders and, almost mechanically, she put her head on his neck and cried some more. She wasn't sure now if she was still crying only for her mother or also out of happiness that they had made it out. Not that she had much time to dwell on it, because he gave her all of one minute of comfort before his shoulders were moving, having gone back to eating.

She lifted her head and wiped her eyes again before asking, "and who did they have in there?"

"My aunt and uncle," he said between bites.

"Oh god," she said, glad that the shock had managed to get her head out of her own sadness. "Are they alright?"

"Don't know," he said with a shrug. "A crying woman told me that they were evacuated so I guess they are."

"You didn't confirm it?" She asked.

He looked at her with an arched eyebrow. "I don't really care. If they are alive, they are; if they are not, they aren't. All the same to me."

She snorted. "But you're living with them."

"They took me in because they thought they had to. They didn't really care and we barely even talked," he said.

"But they are your family," she said.

"My parents were my family then. You're my family now; I don't care about anyone else."

Even though she was still feeling pretty down, she blushed at his words anyway. Saying nothing else -it's not like he would even try to understand- she looked back at the sea. They stayed silent for a long time, the only sound the waves and his munching.

When the sun was setting, he stood up and she looked at him, and promptly did a double take. While he still didn't look like he did before they were taken, he looked far less thin than just this morning. She looked at the bowl to notice that all the food was gone, even the little pieces she had taken for herself and didn't finish.

"How...?" She asked.

"What?" He asked in turn, looking at her.

"Look at yourself," she said, gesturing at him. He did and then traced his fingers over his now less noticeable ribs.

"Huh," he mumbled.

"Had that happened before?" She asked.

"No, though I had never been starved before," he said.

"That's incredible," she said, putting a hand on his bicep. She could still feel the bone, but there was clearly muscle there again.

"Yeah, I guess my healing also involves my body processing food much faster when it needs to restore my shape," he mused.

"Are you still hungry?" She asked.

"Yeah," he noted while looking at the distance. Putting a hand on his slightly sunken belly, he continued, "but, wait, I gotta take a shit."

And without another word, he left her there and went to the sea, taking off the pants. She turned around in embarrassment until he came back.

"That was much less shit than I would have thought. You know, because of everything I ate. Guess my body really didn't want to waste anything," he informed.

"Gross," she said. "Amazing, but gross."

He shrugged. "Anyway, want to get out of here?"

"And do what? Fly through the Pacific in the middle of the night? I'll freeze!" She said.

"Not if we fly low," he offered. "And slow."

"Great," she deadpanned. "How long is that trip gonna take?"

"Probably two or three days until Los Angeles," he stated with a sigh.

"Oh no," she said, her shoulders dropping. But then she had an idea. "Wait, why do we have to fly to Los Angeles? We could go to Honolulu and take a flight there."

He looked at her with eyebrows raised. "You want me to go to the airport and force them to let us board a plane?"

She was not a fan of the idea, she really didn't want to push him into situations that could cause him to kill people... But she also really, really didn't want to fly piggyback for three thousand miles.

"I mean, I don't _want_ you to..." She started.

"Yes, you do," he said with a smirk. "And I like the idea. Let's do that."

He flew straight up and came back a minute later.

"Found the city," he said. "Let's go."

They took off again, with her flying piggyback. When they were approaching the very illuminated city, she sighed.

"Let's not go to the airport yet," she said to his ear.

"What do you want to do?" He asked.

"I need clothes. _You_ need clothes. And I kind of want to take a shower," she said.

"Alright," he said and, using his heat vision, he blew up the highest window of the first beach hotel he saw

After getting off his back near the hole that used to be the window, she looked around. It was a rather lavish bedroom. While she was looking, he went to the door and moved one heavy armchair in front of it.

"This must be a luxury suite," she mused.

"That's why I went for the top floor," he said, smirking. "You should take that shower, I'll go bring some clothes."

She nodded and walked towards what she assumed was the bathroom. She quickly cleaned herself and walked out, draped on a robe far too big for her because there weren't more options. He was already there and there were sandals on the floor and clothes and ski masks on the bed.

"Good," she said, gesturing to the masks.

He nodded and walked into the bathroom himself. She had just dressed herself when he walked back out, still drying himself with a towel and uncaring of his nudity.

She turned away, blushing, and exclaimed, "why did you walk out like that?!"

"Seriously?" He mocked. "You've already seen me naked enough times to memorize how it looks like."

"I don't look..." She stammered, still not looking at him. "Just wear a towel, Jesus!"

He only chuckled while he got dressed. A few minutes later, they landed near the Honolulu airport and put on the masks. He took off, leaving her near the planes, and soon after she heard the alarms, which were shut down very quickly. He came back around half an hour later.

"Come," he said and carried her bridal style.

"You know I'd rather fly on your back," she whined.

"Not this time," he said before taking off.

The wind caused her mask to become itchy and she scratched at it, but knew better than to take it off. It was a small price to pay to prevent a three day flight on Brandon's back, hungry, thirsty and sore. Brandon flew near a particular small plane, and some of the crew hurriedly allowed them inside, which looked very similar in style to the suite they had just broken into.

"What is this?" She asked.

"Some guy's private jet. It's what I asked for," he said, looking at her.

Even behind the mask, she could tell that he was smiling and she just squeezed his hand. Once the plane took off, he asked the crew to bring him all the protein-based food they had on board and went right back to eating, through his mask. She just fell asleep as soon as they were left alone again.


	25. His Touch

She woke up with a start. At first she was confused about where she was, but a screaming woman sobered her up very quickly. She looked towards the source of the noise and saw Brandon lifting the flight attendant by her throat.

"PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" The woman screamed in through her gasps to breath.

"What's going on?!" Caitlyn exclaimed.

Brandon threw the woman in Caitlyn's direction and walked towards the cockpit. On instinct, Caitlyn offered her hand to the woman, but the flight attendant just recoiled and scurried away on the floor, looking at Caitlyn in horror and still pawing at her own neck.

Caitlyn sighed and put down her hand. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

The woman merely kept looking at Caitlyn in bewilderment and Caitlyn sighed again. "I'm not like him, I don't even have the strength to hurt you. I just want to know what happened."

The woman looked at Caitlyn for a couple of seconds longer before she finally talked, her voice strained, "we... we were intercepted by military planes, and we got the message that we should follow them instead of going to the airport."

Caitlyn put her hand on her face for a second. After gathering her wits at the crew's stupidity, she asked the obvious question, "and you listened?"

"It's the government! What were we supposed to do?" The woman defended.

"Not angering him? Why did you want to die?" Caitlyn asked.

"We... we didn't! They told us that Brightburn wouldn't put you at risk and that the plane would be safe!"

That actually seemed logical, Brandon probably wouldn't just tear a hole into the plane to escape, the whiplash caused by the air would probably hurt her even if Brandon caught her, but that was still a small window they decided to risk.

Caitlyn voiced her immediate thought, "that would still put you at risk, Bran... Brightburn doesn't actually need _you_ alive to fly this thing."

The woman thought it over for a second, and her face showed a renewed fear at seeing Caitlyn's point, and she didn't miss the opportunity to press it, "the government doesn't really care that much about you, does it? They killed my mother to get to him, you aren't more important than that. They will kill you if that allows them to capture him."

"Who are you?" The woman asked, mouth agape.

"Not important," Caitlyn answered. "You should go in there and try to convince the pilot to change courses unless Brightburn decides that he can actually keep me safe and kills you all."

As if to answer her, the door to the cockpit burst open and a charred corpse fell a few feet at Caitlyn's left, and she quickly turned away resisting a shiver. The flight attendant returned to screaming with a vengeance, but Caitlyn could still hear Brandon's own yells coming from the cockpit.

"There! You'll be next unless you stop following those assholes!"

Caitlyn walked towards the cockpit and yelled, "hey!"

He turned to look at her through his mask. "What?"

 "I don't think scaring him will help," she pointed out.

"So what?" He said. "Do you want them to lock you up again?"

"No, of course not!" She said.

"Then you better change the fucking course!" Brandon said, addressing the pilot.

"Please," Caitlyn said, also to the pilot. "Just do it, I really don't want him to kill you."

But then Caitlyn felt someone grabbing her from behind and something distinctly metallic and thin pressed to her neck. She screamed on instinct, causing Brandon to turn in her direction again, and his eyes started almost literally burning in fury.

"Back... Back off!" The flight attendant yelled. "If you don't back up, I'll kill her!"

"No!" Caitlyn yelled, both at Brandon and at the woman. "Wait! Wait! If you kill me he'll kill literally everyone in the world!"

"What?!" The woman exclaimed. "Why? Who the hell are you?!"

While she was talking, Brandon appeared right in front of them and his hand closed around the woman's arm, crushing it; the woman screamed and dropped the knife. Not wasting a second, Brandon forcefully pushed Caitlyn to her knees and less than an instant later Caitlyn felt a rush of heat right above her head. Brandon was on a warpath, Caitlyn hadn't even felt the woman's body hitting the plane's floor when he turned around and fired another laser towards the cockpit.

"Brandon! What are you...?!"

He grabbed her and effortlessly lifted her.

"Hug me with both arms and legs and hold tight!" He yelled and she didn't waste time in clinging to him like she had seen little chimps do with their mothers in a nature show she saw once, and buried her face on his neck.

Brandon put one hand behind her neck and the other on her butt and pressed her almost painfully against him. She honestly didn't care, until she felt another heat beam from his eyes and the plane swerved furiously before an almost deafening crack told her that the tail of the plane had broken clean off. She didn't have much time to think about anything else because Brandon jumped and she felt the change in speed to her bones; an instant later they were in open air and she felt lightheaded. The last thing she remembered before passing out was the falling plane and what could be two fighter jets on the distance.

She woke up feeling pain all over her body, but what caught her attention was the sound of sobbing.

"Caitlyn... Caitlyn... Please!" It was Brandon's voice. "Wake up. Fuck! Wake up!"

She slowly opened her eyes to see that they were probably in a forest, or at least she was sure she was looking at a tree trunk. She was still awkwardly draped around Brandon, but his face was on her neck and his whole body was shaking, alternating between crying and yelling at her to wake up.

"You know," she said slowly, still feeling as if her lungs had jumped to her throat. "You could've checked my pulse if you thought I was dead."

He just moved her, making her groan, and kissed her through their masks. She could taste tears, and maybe some snot, through it.

"I did check your pulse," he said in a strained voice. "But you still wouldn't wake up. I thought you were in a coma or something."

"I wish I was," she half-joked. "I'm feeling sore..."

"No," he said in a monotone. "Don't say that. You can't... You can't leave me."

She rolled her eyes and, after giving him a peck on the lips, she said, "I won't, I'm just really, really sore. Let's not do that again."

He only smiled and hugged her tightly to him. Enjoying his hug, she said, "come on, help me stand up. We should make sure that nothing's broken."

Carefully, he hoisted her up and she tentatively moved. As far as she could tell, she could still move properly, and the soreness was going down. She seemed to be ok after all.

"Still, maybe I should get a radiography or something," she commented before looking around them.

They were definitely in a forest, or maybe it was a jungle.

"Where are we?" She asked, turning towards Brandon, who was still staring at her as if afraid she'd break.

"I don't know," he said. "I just flew east as soon as I got away from the plane and this was the first forested land I found."

"I see," she said, carefully sitting again with her back against a tree. "Damn, I feel like I was put through a blender."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Unlike when he said it about his mother, this time he did actually sound genuinely regretful. "It's just that I saw that knife on your neck and I couldn't control myself."

"It's ok," she said, more for his ease of mind than hers; she still remembered the immolated co-pilot after all. "I'm mostly thinking of how amazing it is. You can take a nuclear blast while a little shaking is enough to knock me unconscious."

He smirked at her words and said, "well, if it makes you feel any better. Unlike that one jet missile, the nuke did manage to do something."

She opened her eyes wide. "Really? What did it do? You seemed just fine when you arrived to the compound. Oh, right, your healing..."

He shook his head. "No, it didn't injure me. But I didn't even feel the missile, while the nuclear explosion did send me flying. For a minute or so I shot through the air with no control. After that I managed to slow myself down and fly away, but until then I was a rag doll."

She snorted. "Oh wow, a nuclear blast can knock you away for all of a minute. You're doomed."

He chuckled and sat down next to her before grabbing her and, despite her yelp and pained groans, sitting her on his lap. She settled down and lied her head on his neck.

"Let me know when you feel ready to move," he whispered.

She only nodded and they sat like that for a while. He had his hand on her butt again and was moving it a little, petting her ass. For a moment she thought of berating him for taking advantage, but she didn't even have the strength for that. By around midday, judging by the sun's glare, she felt like her soreness had gone down, and now she was more aware of his boner through his pants.

She made to move but he removed her mask and his before bringing her in for a kiss. She let herself get lost in it; his touch was safe, comforting after weeks in imprisonment and having jumped out of a falling plane. She found herself on the ground with Brandon atop her and she didn't even care about the fact that she was lying on dirt and possibly crap. Brandon grabbing one of her breasts, through her shirt, for the first time got a moan out of her, and she was almost embarrassed when she gave a tiny yelp after she felt him squishing.

However, when his other hand sneaked below her shirt, she finally awoke from the lustful haze. "Brandon..."

"Please..." he said in between kissing, and sucking, on her neck. The neediness, almost desperation, in his voice sent a shiver down her spine, and frankly she also wanted to touch him so she decided to enjoy it.

And enjoy it she did, once she felt his fingers touching and rubbing on her nipple, she moved her own hands. She touched below his shirt and was only momentarily surprised at not really noticing bones -beyond the normal anyway- under his skin, only firm muscle. Evidently he had eaten all the food in the plane. The solidness of his body caused another shiver; she touched all over his chest and back and, almost to her own surprise, she found her hands at the hem of his pants.

"Yes," he said in a grunt and pushed his pelvis forward, wordlessly telling her what he wanted.

However, things were starting to go too far for her, specially once she felt his hands going below her pants and panties and squishing her butt directly. The skin on skin contact was nice, but still. She almost told him to stop but then his hands left her butt on their own accord. He grabbed one of her hands and put it right on top of the bulge in his pants.

"We don't..." He stammered, his head still buried on her neck. "We don't have to go... well, all the way, but I really, really want you to touch me... there."

She blushed, both at hearing that he apparently had noticed her sudden discomfort, but also at realizing that she was actually really curious about how he... it would feel in her hand. She gingerly pulled down his zipper and sneaked a hand in there. He wasn't wearing any underwear, so she immediately came into contact with his... well, his dick, better to call it that since she knew she would be touching it a lot more from then on. It was hard, that much was obvious, but she was also a bit surprised at how warm it actually was as she put her hand around it. Brandon shivered and grunted on her neck, but he didn't stay still. He started moving his pelvis slowly back and forth, and his hands were now back on her. One on her breast and the other was... unbuttoning her pants.

"Brandon," she said and pulled her hand away from his pants.

"I won't take it off," he said, looking at her. "I swear. I just want to touch you like... like you're touching me."

The intensity of his gaze and his words made her blush even more but she relented only after a few seconds of hesitation. And so she reached inside his pants at the same time he did the same, inside her pants and panties. She gasped loudly at feeling his fingers around her pelvis, and going progressively lower. When he reached her pussy, it was her turn to bury her head on his neck, and she gave out her loudest moan so far when he, probably accidentally, brushed against her clitoris, and she kept on moaning because he stayed there after he noticed her initial reaction. The more he rubbed, the more she moved her own hand up and down his dick and soon he was grunting as loudly as she was moaning.

All of a sudden, she noticed that his dick seemed to be increasing in girth, and then he exclaimed, "oh, fuck!"

And then she felt what she probably should have been expecting, a sticky, warm liquid covering her hand but she didn't have much time to consider how she felt about it, because she then felt his finger pressing on her button more insistently and she gasped. Distractedly she put her hand out of his pants and wiped it on the dirt, which only made it a bigger mess, but she didn't care.

He was looking at her intently now. "You haven't gotten off."

She shook her head, too embarrassed to say it out loud.

"Am I doing this right?" He asked, still looking at her, his face showing no expression except maybe curiosity.

She made to nod, but then she thought of something. Blushing furiously, even though at that point she thought it obvious that they were becoming more intimate, she whispered, "maybe... Maybe if you put one finger... you know, in."

She hadn't even finished talking when she felt his index finger slowly probing inside, moving around. She found herself biting his neck, though she gathered her wits quickly and went back to kissing him a second later; she didn't want to accidentally break her own teeth. Once he put his thumb over her clitoris while his index finger was still moving inside her, she felt an explosion going through her whole body.

"Brandon!" She all but screamed. Her limbs becoming tense for a second before she relaxed.

"You should always say my name exactly like that from now on," he said with a smile once she was able to focus back on him.

"Don't get used to it," she replied in what she hoped was a mocking tone while he buttoned her pants back.

He stood up while pulling up his zipper and extended his hand at her. With no other words, they took off after putting their masks back on. She was flying piggyback again, hugging him tightly. It was probably silly, but she now felt even closer to him than before.


	26. His Identity

By the time they made it back to Kingman, it was already the death of night and she was again sore and freezing from flying. She was thankful to be back on the ground, though her relief was short lived because Brandon didn't waste time in showing the reason why he decided to land near the mall. He blew a hole in one of the doors at the back and, before she knew what was happening, he had disappeared inside.

A minute later, he came back with two boxes, which turned out to be phones.

"Here," he said, giving her the small box and a sim card before sitting down on a bench next to her.

"What are you doing?" She asked. "Why did you even take this? What is happening?!"

"I'm setting up the phone. I have no idea what's happened in the last few weeks and I want to find out what I've missed, don't you?" He asked, his face blank.

She glared at him for the mockery in his tone before speaking, "Well, yes... but we can't set them up here! Cops must be on their way here already."

"Goddamn, these people are so fucking annoying," he said, but he stood up regardless.

"Good, let's walk somewhe..." He didn't even let her finish the sentence before he had lifted her on his back again and taken off.

"We could have walked," she said when they descended on the back of a dinner in the outskirts of town.

"Would've taken longer," he said as only answer before sitting again, this time on one of the benches outside.

"I guess," she said, and proceeded to open the box, insert the card into the new phone and connect to the thankfully passwordless wifi network of the dinner.

After setting up a couple of social media apps, she was immediately bombarded with messages, most of them old. She checked Gwen and Michelle's first; even though they hadn't seen each other in months, they were determined to keep their friendship alive.

**Gwen: Hey, where r u?**

**Michelle: Caitlyn?**

**Gwen: Hey!**

There were many similar messages, most of them increasingly worried, until they both had agreed to report her disappearance to the police. There weren't many new messages from them after around a week, but then they had written again, both separately and together, just the day before.

**Gwen: OMG! Is is true?!**

**Michelle: Is that y u r hiding?**

**Gwen: Is he really Brandon Breyer?**

**Michelle: OMG, is that really why hes as strong as u said?!**

She was completely flabbergasted by those messages, until Gwen helpfully posted a link to a post in a forum:

**Who is Brightburn's partner?**

Ever since he first started his attacks, Brightburn hasn't been anything but shrouded in mystery. What does he want? Why's he here? How can he be stopped? However it seems like the matter might not be what he wants, but _who_ he wants.

Ever since the first the first sightings of Brightburn in, well, Brightburn, there have been rumors that someone was always accompanying him and, by all descriptions, that someone was a girl. However, there were no more indications of this mystery girl since before Brightburn's skirmish against the national guard, after which his attacks spread all over the world.

That is, until a couple of days ago! In which, several anonymous sources report, Brightburn attacked a government facility where some girl was being kept in, in order to release her. Just a matter of hours later, they were spotted in the city of Honolulu, where Brightburn stole a private jet that he boarded along with a mystery passenger, who according to blurry footage, could or could not be the same girl.

So who is this person? Is there another like Brightburn? Unlikely, given that he needed to break her out -she couldn't do it herself apparently- and if she was like Brightburn, then they wouldn't have needed to steal a plane and could have just flown away. So what is she then? A normal human? Possibly but, if so, then why was she being kept hostage by the government and, more importantly, what does Brightburn want with her?

The interesting thing is that there are hints as to who she could be and, as such, the real identity of Brightburn. Just a few weeks ago, a woman and her daughter, named Erica and Caitlyn Connor respectively, disappeared without a trace from Kingman, a small city very close to Brightburn, the town, where the creature first manifested himself. But that's not all! It turns out that the Connors had lived in Brightburn until fairly recently, and shortly before their disappearance, another Kingman family, the Montoya family, also disappeared in mysterious circumstances. According to posts in the son's, Carlos's, social media, he had been dating this Caitlyn girl.

If this girl truly is the person that rumors were saying was near Brightburn -and mind you, the rumors could be entirely unfounded since the only footage is a blurry photograph taken at dawn of what could be Brightburn carrying someone on his arms, although the second person in Honolulu is very much real- then that could itself be a hint of who Brightburn is. As it turns out, Carlos hadn't been Caitlyn's first boyfriend; it was a boy from Brightburn named Brandon Breyer (who, as you might notice, matches the double B initialism that Brightburn likes to put in all of his attacks), who apparently had broken her hand before they went out, and whose parents died in a freak fire -whose few witnesses were attacked by what seemed in retrospective to be one of Brightburn's lasers when they went to inspect- around the time in which Brightburn started revealing himself.

Breyer himself now lives at Stuckton, another town near Brightburn, with his aunt and uncle, who took him in after the death of his parents. Or at least he used to live there, because it turns out that him, along with his relatives, disappeared around the same time as the Connors did in Kingman. I don't know about you, but these are way too many coincidences, and if this kid truly is Brightburn, and if what he and this Caitlyn girl did truly were dating, then we could say that Brightburn has a girlfriend, and that itself might be the reason that the government kept her locked up.

But what does that mean? And what did the government try to do to this girl to get to Brightburn? Could this person be a weakness of what seemed until now an unstoppable monster? I'll keep everyone informed if I can.

KC

Before she even had the opportunity to show the article to Brandon, another text arrived:

**Gwen: OMG, Caitlyn! U R ONLINE! ANSWER!**

Ignoring her, Caitlyn showed the article to Brandon, who was then watching a video of what clearly was his attack to the Honolulu airport. He skimmed over the words and his eyes flashed red.

"Seriously, who the fuck is this KC douchebag?" He sneered.

"No idea, he posted this crap anonymously to a forum website. I guess he's not that inclined in keeping my identity a secret anymore," she said before deleting all the unread messages she'd received from that creep in the last weeks. There were about a hundred.

Afterwards, she turned her attention back to the group chat:

**Michelle: OMG ITS TRUE U R HERE! ANSWER!**

**Caitlyn: Hey guys...**

**Michelle: OMG, thank god! I thought u died!**

**Gwen: Me 2**

**Caitlyn: Im fine guys, but seriously, we cant talk about what happened online**

**Caitlyn: Ill meet each of u in person and tell u**

**Michelle: But u r fine, right?**

**Caitlyn: Yes, Im ok**

**Caitlyn: I have so much to tell u but not over here**

**Gwen: Alright, come visit me first!**

**Michelle: Dont take too long! Im dying over here!**

Her friends always managed to make her smile, if only for a fraction of a second. She turned her attention back to Brandon, who was staring into the woods outside town, deep in thought. He was clearly as lost as she was, but thankfully her belly gave her a distraction from their predicament by rumbling.

"Can we eat here?" She asked.

"I don't have money," he said. "Do you want me to scare them into giving us food? I'll do it."

"No, please, let's not bring any more attention to us, at least for tonight," she pleaded.

He looked at her with half-lidded eyes, and only nodded. "What do you suggest, then?"

"I guess I could go to my house..." She said.

"And into another trap? Forget it," he snapped.

"I mean, I could go in by myself, and you could stand watch from above. You can attack from afar if you see something," she suggested.

He thought it over for a second, and seemingly liking the idea of killing more people that came after them, he agreed.

And so she walked to her house after removing her ski mask, now finding it unbearable as it was covered in sweat. Every now and then she glanced upwards, making sure that Brandon was still following her. The door was now closed, but not locked, so she could still walk in normally. Oddly, despite her and her mother's disappearance being apparently common knowledge, nobody had broken in to steal. She wondered if that was because people were too afraid to come closer of it was the government's hand. Whatever the case, she needed to hurry, and that was the reason she held her tears and ignored the pictures of her and her mother, as well as the kitchen.

She walked resolutely towards her room, and went through all her stuff looking for the little savings she had. She finally found her piggy bank at the bottom of one of her drawers, but when she picked it up her blood ran cold. Just below it, forgotten until now, was a very familiar piece of metal. For a moment she thought of horrifying possibilities of the government having found Brandon's ship in space and discovering his weakness to it, but then she remembered their trip to the lake, all that time ago, and remembered that she had never actually given the shard back to Brandon.

She picked it up, at first thinking of giving it to Brandon before dismissing the idea; he would just think she'd had kept that shard on purpose. She then thought about leaving it there, but dismissed it even more quickly. No, if the government knew she'd come back and then left, they would assume she'd never come back again and then they would tear the whole place down looking for clues. Next time they would definitely grab the piece of metal, even if for no reason other than grabbing everything even if they never studied it. No, she'd have to get rid of this thing on her own as soon as she had the chance.

Feeling, or was it _knowing_ , that she was being watched, she quickly walked back outside and all but ran down the street. Once she felt herself far enough from her house, she made a signal to Brandon, who just as quickly picked her up and flew away at a faster speed than she was comfortable with. She understood, though; they really, really needed to put as much distance between them and Kingman as possible. Indeed, they didn't go back to the dinner from earlier, and Brandon only landed again about three towns over.

When they could finally order food, they were starving, so they waited and ate in silence.

"What should we do now?" She asked after they were back outside the dinner.

"I don't know," he said, looking around.

"Maybe we should hide..." She offered, knowing already what his answer would be.

"Why would I hide?" He asked, turning to look at her.

"To be safe?" She asked.

"They can't threaten me," he said, his eyes flashing red for a microsecond.

"But they can threaten me," she pointed out.

"I can protect you," he said, averting his gaze.

"Last time you said that, we ended up locked away for weeks."

She saw the anger on his face even if he wasn't looking at her. He spoke after a moment, "but we survived."

"I don't think I'll be able to go through that again," she admitted, hugging herself.

"They can't kill your mother another time," he said, finally looking back in her direction with a blank face.

She felt herself tearing up and looked away. "You're right, forget I said anything. You'll never understand."

"What do you want me to do then?" He said. "I can't just hide for anything they threaten to do. They are inferior."

"What about the video we talked about?" She asked. "They might leave you alone."

"Or it might confirm all they're saying," he countered. "Look at what they did when they only suspected. You'll just be a bigger target."

She sat down next to him, wiping her eyes. He did have a point, but she still felt unsafe only sitting there. She hated the paranoia.

"What if we just lay low? You don't have to hide forever, just for a while," she offered.

"And what will that accomplish?" He asked, looking at her with an arched eyebrow. "We'll just put off the problem."

"I don't know! Maybe they'll focus on something else if you don't attack for a while..."

"Something like what?" He asked with a frown.

It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Haven't you heard about the others?"


	27. His Interest

"What do you mean?" He asked with a frown.

She frowned herself. "Wait, really?"

"What?" He asked, now seemingly annoyed.

"Well, it's relatively recent, the first report was about a month before we met again, but still, a month is a month," she said.

"Report of what?"

"That you... You might not be the only superhuman around," she answered slowly.

"What?" He asked, his eyes wide open.

"Yeah, I saw it first in Big T's, channel. You know, the bald guy?" She said

He nodded. "I hadn't watched him in a while, I usually just look for videos about me... Well, about 'Brightburn'."

"Ah," she said. "That might be why you missed the others."

"What did he say about them?" Brandon asked, back to frowning.

"There are quite a few, but he focuses in three others beside you. Well, one of the three only appeared for the first time a few days before we... we met again, but he did call her one of the most dangerous," she said.

"And who are these three?" He asked, still frowning.

"Well, one is some sort of half man, half fish creature attacking boats in the Pacific, another is some sort of robot that's on a murder spree in South Africa and the last one is supposedly a witch, who's making men kill themselves in eastern Europe, mostly the Balkans," she listed.

Brandon looked at her for a moment, seemingly pondering her words carefully. He finally said, "and that guy really said that they were as powerful as I am?"

His eyes were flashing and she rolled her eyes when she understood what he was getting angry about. "No, he didn't, he still says you're the most dangerous. He just considers that the others are serious threats too."

Like she expected, her words placated him a little bit, and he snorted, "sure they are. I can't wait to meet them and see how 'dangerous' they really are."

He stood up and she immediately followed, grabbing his arm. "Wait, what?"

"I will be the one who takes this world," he said, not looking at her. "It is mine, nobody will get in the way."

"Wait!" She exclaimed. "You can't just leave right now to look for them! What about the government?!"

He turned towards her, his eyes still red. "I could just go to Washington and destroy the city. I'm sure they'll understand why I did it and leave us alone."

A picture of a burning Washington DC appeared in front of her eyes, and she quickly shook her head in horror. Thinking quickly, and squishing his arm in an attempt to beseech him to see reason, she said, "or it could only make them angrier and make them stop caring about not hurting me."

"I don't want to hide, Caitlyn," he snapped.

"Do you have any better ideas?" She shot back, earning a glare that she ignored. "How about this? Let's just hide for six months to see if they really do focus on the others. They might even get rid of them for you!"

He went over her words again before asking, "what about school?"

Of all the things he could've been considering then, school was one she didn't expect. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, before she gathered her wits and said, "we could just study through the internet."

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow. "So do you really want us to crawl into a hole for six months? I'll get bored..."

He smirked and looked her up and down, making his implication even more obvious. She blushed furiously and looked away; after gulping, she stammered, "I mean... We don't actually need to hide all the time, we could just lay low and you could stop your attacks. I'm sure people wouldn't notice us that way..."

"This is my world, Caitlyn," he said. "They'll have to understand that I don't need to hide from them. They should be hiding from me!"

"Yes, but it's not about you we're talking about. Do you really care that little about what happens to me?" She asked, and tried her best to look heartbroken.

He frowned again, "I do, that's why I should attack Washington instead. You could hide in the meantime, you already said you don't mind hiding for six months. You don't need me for that, I'd still come see you."

She was starting to run out of ideas, though in her alarm while thinking about a destroyed Washington, she remembered something else. "Wait! What about your cults?"

He blinked once. "What about them?"

"What if we stay with one of them for a time? Aren't you curious about living with people who literally worship you?" She asked. If nothing else, maybe appealing to his ego would work.

"... Not really," he said in a flat tone.

"What?"

He shrugged. "To me, they're no different from anyone else. They're all humans, inferior, what they believe about me is really not important. I don't care about whether they worship me. In fact, I prefer their fear."

Her mouth was agape, now she truly was out of ideas so she had to insist on that one. "What about me? You've said many times that you don't want my fear."

Now it was his turn to roll the eyes. "Correct, I've said it many times. You're special to me, _only_ you."

She sighed. "Maybe if you opened up to other people, you'll see that other people can be special too. I mean, it's not like there's anything special about me. I am just a normal human..."

He hugged her then, his arms around her hips. With his face only a few inches from hers, he said. "What would be the point of that? We don't 'open up' to wild animals, and that's all they are to me. I love you, and I don't need anybody else."

He was giving her a genuine smile then, but it was his words that made her open her eyes very wide and her mouth to fall open on its own. "What did you say?"

He frowned. "Uhh... That there's no point because for me they're animals?"

She shook her head. "No, not that. You... you love me?"

His frown deepened. "Yes?"

"Wow," was all she could say.

Still frowning, he said, "that surprises you? What did you think I felt about you?"

"I... I don't know," she admitted. It was actually difficult to talk because her belly had decided to take dance lessons at that very moment.

"Well, it's true," he said with another shrug before kissing her.

She kissed him back for a moment, but broke it off to say, "I think I love you too."

He hadn't prompted her, in fact his whole attitude about the L word was unusually -so, usual for him, she supposed- nonchalant, but she still felt like she needed to say it back.

He smirked and whispered, "I know."

She swatted him on the chest playfully before she got serious again. "Fine, you don't really care about your followers, but I still think we should meet them."

"Why?" He asked, letting go of her.

"If nothing else, maybe they'll help us come up with a plan to keep me safe. In fact, they might protect me themselves," she suggested.

He blinked, "huh... that actually might be a good idea."

She glared at him. "Oh gee, thanks for your approval."

He chuckled before raising an eyebrow again. "Who would've thought you'd be so eager to meet people willing to serve you. I knew I picked well."

"Shut up!" She exclaimed, but now that he mentioned it, she couldn't deny that the cults probably would have plenty of ideas about her as Brandon's girlfriend, and all of them seemed really good in her head.

He only chuckled again. "Fine, let's do that, do you know how to find them?"

Now it was her turn to blink a couple of times. "I... actually don't know, but we could find out."

"Fine, but for now we need to find a place to sleep," he said, looking around.

Just then she realized how tired and sore she still was, so she only nodded her agreement. It didn't take long for Brandon to find an empty house and force the backdoor open, and they just crashed into the first bedroom they found. She was already dozing off when she felt Brandon's hand wandering off from its usual place in her belly, first along the curve of her hips and then approaching her breasts. She put her own hand on top of it before it reached its destination.

"No," she said only, her eyes still closed.

"Come on! Why?" He asked, though he kept his hand still under hers.

"Seriously? I'm tired!" She whined.

He grunted before whispering, "maybe it's a good idea to see what those cults have to offer after all..."

She knew he was teasing her, but couldn't help her own anger at his implication anyway. She grabbed his hand and put it away before moving to stand up. He didn't let her, of course, and soon she found herself enveloped in an iron grip by both of his arms.

"I'm joking!" He said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"You're an ass," she whispered, and to her own annoyance, she smiled too.

"Hey, I have never even kissed anybody else, you can't say the same!" He teased.

"Shut up and sleep," she retorted and, thankfully, he did let her sleep after that.

She woke up to him nibbling on her neck, one finger tracing the underside of one of her breasts, over her shirt, and his morning wood pressed against her butt. At first she was going to yell at him for waking her in the middle of the night, but then noticed the light coming from the window; it was very much morning already.

"Okay, you already slept. Can we do stuff now?" He asked, his voice heavy.

At first she thought about denying him on principle, but she was getting turned on by his touch so ultimately she turned around and kissed him.

Nearly an hour later, she was in the shower, and noticed to her embarrassment that there were no toiletries for women in that bathroom, meaning she was very much using some guy's shower. Still, beggars couldn't be choosers, and she had had enough trouble already rejecting Brandon's request to shower together.

"Alright," he said as soon as she walked into the kitchen, he was cooking breakfast. "How much do you want?"

"I still have some money, you know? We didn't need to steal these people's food too," she said, but she was already sitting down.

He only snorted before giving her a plate of eggs and bacon, which she all but wolfed down. He wasn't a terribly good cook and the bacon was a little burnt, but she was hungry.

"Alright, so, the cults," he said after they were done eating.

"Actually, I was thinking," she said.

"You changed your mind? Should I attack DC?" He asked with a positively evil smile.

She wasn't sure if he was teasing her or if he actually meant it, but for her own peace of mind, she chose to believe the former. "No, we should definitely go meet them. What I meant is... could we go to Topeka and Dallas first?"

"Why?" He asked, his smile gone and replaced by mild surprise.

"I really want to see Gwen and Michelle again, and I did promise to explain everything to them," she answered.

He thought it over for a while and at first she thought he was going to refuse, but finally he said, "fine, but are you sure they won't start rambling to everyone? I really don't want anyone to think that you actually are a weakness."

"Please," she said with a snort. "You can come with me to talk to them if you want, even if you don't kill them -please don't- I'm sure they'll be scared enough not to say a word."

He smirked. "I like that idea."


	28. His Indifference

They arrived in Dallas early that night, after much grumbling from Brandon who'd have preferred they flew right after breakfast. She refused and thankfully he listened after she'd insisted that it was not a matter of hiding from the government, but simply that she didn't want her friends involved. She also had to spend most of the day -with only a pause for lunch- making out with him. Not that she minded.

"Do you know her address?" He asked after they took off their masks.

"I think she gave it to me a while ago," she answered, already going through her old texts. "Found it!"

She caught herself before she could actually paste the address to the GPS application. The last thing she wanted was the government tracking her that way. "We'll have to look for it the old way though, this _stolen_ phone has no data."

He narrowed his eyes, but thankfully said nothing and merely followed her after she started walking. His patience, however, ran out after only ten minutes of walking almost aimlessly.

"Fuck this," he said, putting on his mask again and lifting off.

"What are you...?" She started, but he was gone. She was about to freak out when he came back with another phone.

"You stole that?!" She exclaimed. "Now they'll know you were here!"

"No, they won't," he snapped. "I took it from a security guard who was snoring, look up the address fast and I'll return it before he wakes up. These two little visits of yours are the last time I have to hide myself that way, understood?"

His eyes were flashing and it was obvious that he wasn't going to accept her arguing back so she only nodded. She quickly found the directions and gave him the phone back, after which he disappeared again.

"Put on the mask, we're flying," he said after coming back.

She couldn't deny that she was getting irritated at his tone, but she still bit her tongue and had to settle on glaring at him before putting on the mask. She had barely lowered her hands from her face when he lifted her bridal style.

"What are...?" She protested.

He didn't even let her finish before they were on the air and she had to grab onto his neck for dear life. She was starting to see the point in old comedies of women sending guys to sleep on the couch. Thankfully, she didn't have much time to seethe before they were in Gwen's street. Her friend's house was dark and first she feared the worst and that somehow the government had gotten there before them, but a closer look showed that there was no car in the garage.

"For fuck's sake," Brandon muttered.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon," she sighed.

When he floated in order to force a window in the second floor open was when she started to think that he was deliberately trying to piss her off.

"Why did you do that?!" She exclaimed, tired of his attitude.

"Oh really?" He mocked. "You want me to stay outside your friend's house for who knows how long and risking anybody seeing me and recognizing me?"

The fact that he had a point only angered her more. She crossed her arms and looked away. "Fine, do whatever, I'm staying here."

He said nothing, which actually surprised her so she turned back towards him, only to see that he wasn't even there anymore. Then the front door opened.

"I'm sorry, you were saying?" He said in a mock innocent tone while wearing a petulant smirk.

"I hate you," she muttered, stomping inside and deliberately looking away from him.

"This place is a shithole," he commented, looking around.

She was still mad so she didn't answer, but he was right. There were dirty plates on the small table, one of the chairs had a broken leg and it was clear that the floor hadn't been swept in a while. An odd smell but she preferred not to look into permeated the air.

She cleared her throat. "We should wait in her room."

He nodded and led the way upstairs. He opened the first door he found, where there was a queen size bed and a wardrobe; that room in particular was in much better shape than the rest of the house, but it was clearly not Gwen's room. The second door was locked. When he opened the last door, the odd smell became ten times worse and she quickly put her hand over her nose while she gagged; he seemed unfazed and went in, only to come out a second later and close the door at her hurried gesturing.

"Whoever lives in there is clearly on drugs," he informed.

"Did the room look like mine, though?" She asked, a little louder than she'd wanted to.

He looked at her pale face with curiosity and shook his head.

"Caitlyn?" A voice said suddenly from the locked door behind her, causing Caitlyn to scream and almost jump on top of Brandon.

"Gwen?" She stammered after she was able to get her breathing back under control. She ignored Brandon's chuckle.

The door burst open and out came Gwen, looking pale as a ghost. She bolted towards Caitlyn and hugged her tightly, "oh my God! It's you!"

"God, Gwen! You scared me to death!" Caitlyn said, hugging her back.

Gwen pulled back to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "I scared you? You were sneaking into my house like a thief! I thought I was going to get kidnapped or something!"

Caitlyn chuckled. "To be fair, that wasn't my idea."

It was then that Gwen seemed to notice her other 'visitor'. Gwen looked intently at Brandon, her mouth in a thin line, while Brandon looked back at her with half-lidded eyes, arms crossed and an expression of complete disinterest.

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. "Brandon, Gwen. Gwen, Brandon. You know each other."

Gwen looked from Brandon to Caitlyn and back, and finally she whispered at Caitlyn, "is it true, then?"

Caitlyn opened her mouth, but Brandon answered for her... by making his eyes red and raising from the floor, looking every bit the horror movie monster given that the lights were still off. Gwen inhaled sharply and jumped back a step.

Caitlyn rolled her eyes again. "Yes, it's true."

"What? ... How? ... What?!" Gwen mumbled.

"Can we talk in your room?" Caitlyn asked. "I'd rather your mother doesn't see us in the middle of the hallway."

The mention of her mother seemed to snap Gwen back to reality and she snorted. "Yeah, right. Come on in."

Gwen's room was much smaller than her room back in Brightburn, and she was as messy as usual, but at least it didn't smell bad like most of the rest of the house. Gwen gestured towards the small bed at Caitlyn and turned towards Brandon but, before she said anything, he walked towards the window and stood there, looking outside.

Sparing a frown in Brandon's direction, Gwen sat on the small stool she had for desk chair. The 'desk' itself was clearly a repurposed lawn table.

Caitlyn looked around and spoke, "why are you hanging around with the lights off?"

Gwen waved her hand dismissively. "The power comes and goes here, this house is a mess. But that's not important! Tell. Me. Everything."

Caitlyn smiled and, looking sideways at Brandon who was still at the window with his back to them, she said loudly enough to make sure he heard. "Before that, I kinda need you to promise not to tell anyone."

Gwen let out a snort. "Do you even need to ask? I don't wanna end up like those soldiers."

Caitlyn's mouth was agape, she couldn't believe her friend could be so blasé about such a tragedy. "That's not funny."

Gwen shrugged. "Maybe not, but it's true. Out with it."

Caitlyn, still flabbergasted, looked again at Brandon, who himself seemed to have turned his head just a little after Gwen's words, probably to better listen. Caitlyn frowned, but nevertheless spoke. To her surprise, Gwen didn't interrupt her once; her friend simply listened to her, looking almost enraptured, for the better part of an hour.

"... And so we came here," Caitlyn finished, her throat dry from all the talking.

"Wow," Gwen said finally, and then she looked sad. "Sorry about your mom."

Caitlyn had powered through her retelling of their captivity, but Gwen's words seemed to flip a switch. Almost not expecting it, she started crying, and Gwen immediately sat next to her and hugged her.

"I'm sorry..." Caitlyn said after she could calm herself some more. "I just wish... I just wish I could have at least buried her."

"Hey, it's ok," Gwen said, her hand still rubbing Caitlyn's back. "Seems like you didn't even have time to mourn her."

"She _is_ buried," Brandon pointed out, still looking out the window.

Caitlyn had to resist the urge to throw something at him, and thankfully Gwen provided a distraction.

"Holy shit you're an a..." Her friend started saying, but Caitlyn quickly grabbed her arm with all her strength. "Ow!"

Caitlyn ignored Brandon's low but obvious chuckle. "Don't, I'd rather him not kill you. Plus, I can perfectly deal with him on my own, don't worry."

It was Gwen's turn to be shocked and she looked several times from Brandon -still glued to the window- to Caitlyn and back. Finally, she nodded and, sparing a glance at Brandon, leaned towards Caitlyn, whispering so low even Caitlyn herself only barely caught it, "are you ok with, you know, him?"

Caitlyn smiled and nodded, looking at him. She whispered back, "yeah, he's an ass most of the time, but still, he looks out for me and he'd never hurt me..." Gwen raised an eyebrow. "... Well, _now_."

"I see," Gwen said, leaning back. "In that case, you have my blessing."

Caitlyn snorted, looking at Brandon's back. "Oh, wow, thanks."

Gwen also looked at him and turned back towards Caitlyn, wearing an evil smile that Caitlyn had learned to dread long ago. She said loudly, "I understand even. He's definitely not lanky anymore, he's getting hot!"

Caitlyn blushed a deep crimson, not that it was easy to tell with the little light coming from the partially blocked window, and joined in Gwen's giggle almost despite herself. She said, in a stage whisper, "I know right?!"

She doubted that they had achieved Gwen's goal of embarrassing him, but still. After they stopped laughing, Gwen asked, "and what are you doing after talking to Michelle?"

"We're going to find his cults," Caitlyn answered, more serious.

"Really? Why?" Gwen asked.

"I can't keep running from the government forever. Maybe they can help us with keeping me safe," Caitlyn said, unable to keep the frustration from her voice.

"I see..." Gwen said, looking from one of Caitlyn's eyes to the other. Caitlyn frowned at her friend's intense expression, but then Gwen continued, "can I come with you?"

"Wh... what?" Caitlyn asked, opening and closing her mouth several times.

"Can I come?" Gwen repeated, grabbing Caitlyn's hands.

It was then that the light came on all of a sudden and Caitlyn had to blink away the glare. She looked from her friend to Brandon, who had finally turned around and was looking back at Caitlyn with a frown. She herself frowned when she noticed an obvious, if partially healed, bruise on Gwen's arm.

"What happened to your arm?" Caitlyn asked, looking at the bruise.

Gwen finally looked away and pulled her sleeve over the bruise, not that it could really cover it. Caitlyn didn't miss that her friend was tearing up.

"Gwen, what happened?" Caitlyn insisted.

"It was my mom... She has..." Gwen whispered. "Let's just say I understand now why dad left her and why she never visited."

"Is her room the one at the end of the hallway?" Brandon asked, he was again looking out the window, but he was now partially sitting on it so that he wasn't giving his back to them.

Gwen looked at him and nodded at the same time she whispered, "yes."

So Gwen's mom was an addict. Caitlyn, however, was still confused, "where is she now? And what about your grandparents?"

"No idea where she is, sometimes she disappears for days," Gwen answered. "My grandma is in the hospital, grandpa is visiting her right now."

Now it was clear why the house was such a mess. Caitlyn was at a loss for words, Gwen had never even alluded to living in such a sad situation.

"Why did you never say anything?" She asked finally.

"Would you have? It's so embarrassing," Gwen answered, covering her eyes with her hand.

"And what about your dad?" Caitlyn asked.

"No, please, don't tell him!" Gwen exclaimed, grabbing Caitlyn's hand again. "He's been trying so hard to get a new job since we had to get out of Brightburn, I don't want him to worry even more."

Caitlyn looked at Brandon despite herself. For his part, he had a completely neutral expression, his eyes fixed out the window.

"Please, can I come with you? I'm sure those cults are looking for new converts," Gwen said, her eyes still brimming with tears.

"I... I..." Caitlyn stuttered. She decided to stall longer. "And _are_ you a convert? Are you sure you want to live with a cult?"

"If you guys get me out of here, I'll believe whatever the cults tell me about him, and hey, you seem to be ok with him!" Gwen exclaimed with a false smile, a hint of desperation in her voice.

Brandon snorted but said nothing. Caitlyn looked at him, trying to beseech him to help her out, but he wasn't even looking at her.

"Please," Gwen implored.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Caitlyn asked out loud.

"What am I? A charity?" Brandon asked in return, turning towards Caitlyn with a frown.

"Please! You said that you don't even care about the cults, so what is it to you if Gwen is with them or not?" Caitlyn snapped.

He shrugged in return. "You're right, it makes no difference to me."

Caitlyn looked back Gwen. "We fly everywhere together so I don't think you can come with us right now, but I'll send for you as soon as we find one of these cults. I promise!"

Gwen looked disappointed for a moment, but then smiled. "Please, don't forget about me."

"I would never," Caitlyn said, and hugged Gwen tightly.


	29. His Challenge

Gwen finally let her go after she made her promise that she'd send for her three more times. Brandon had suggested spending the night in Dallas, with a knowing smirk, but she insisted that it was better to save time and going back to Kansas as soon as possible, so they were again flying in the middle of the night. Thankfully, Brandon let her fly piggyback this time; she still didn't enjoy flying, but she was getting used to it.

"I still think we could've brought her along," she said.

"And I still think I don't care," he answered.

She huffed, but pressed on. "Can you at least try to pretend to be normal every now and then?"

"Why would I do that? I don't have to."

"Whatever, I still think you could've helped her," she snapped.

"I could, but what a waste of time, I don't know why you still expect me to..."

He was interrupted by a bright flash of light and she screamed when she felt a sudden swerve in his movement. Next thing she knew, they were flying at an almost breakneck speed, except they weren't flying, he had clearly been pushed away and had no control of his movements. For a second she thought that was it for her, but he was finally able to slow down and then he grabbed her on his arms before landing. They were in the middle of a mostly empty plain, with almost no life in sight, except for something that was coming at them fast. It was too small for a missile, and there was a purple light flashing intermittently from it.

The thing finally landed a couple hundred feet away from them, and that's when she noticed that the thing was humanoid, if maybe large for a normal man. The purple light was where one of its (his?) eyes should be. Brandon stepped in front of her, partially blocking her view of the thing, but not before she noticed the huge hole in his shirt that had been burnt away. She cursed that it was night and the moon was waning, so it was nearly impossible to make out what hell was the thing, but even though, it seemed familiar for some reason.

"Caitlyn, go away," Brandon said, sounding eerily calm.

"What?" She whispered.

"This thing was able to move me; only a nuclear blast had been able to do that before. I'm going to kill it, but I'm not sure what else this thing is capable of. I can't afford you dying," he said, the anger slowly creeping into his voice.

Caitlyn turned to run in the opposite direction, but that's when the creature spoke. It had a deep voice, but there was something weird to it, it sounded as if it was coming from a loudspeaker.

"Caitlyn Connor," he said, making her freeze and turn back around. "I could have killed you if I wanted to, but I aimed the shot so it came from below your position and only touched Brandon Breyer."

Brandon, ever the conversationalist, disappeared and, a second later, he was where the creature had been standing, while the creature itself was flying away. The sound that it gave when Brandon punched it -him- was distinctly metallic. Brandon was again next to her a moment later.

"It's a robot," he said, frowning. "But not only a robot, part of its face was human."

She then remembered why it seemed familiar and inhaled sharply before exclaiming, "he's one of the others! The Big T talked about him! There was some sort of machine killing people and destroying stuff in South Africa, but some reports said that the creature was shaped like a person!"

Just then, the creature landed back in front of them, and Caitlyn clearly saw an almost feral smile on Brandon's face before he turned to face him.

"You're lucky you didn't hurt her," Brandon said slowly. "I would have made sure you suffered, but now I'm just going to kill you quickly. But first, I'd love to know where the fuck you came from."

"My designation is AN-3. But Father told me that, before, my name had been Symon Veers," the creature answered before he lifted a hand.

A bright purple beam shot from it, but this time Brandon was ready and he shot his heat vision at the same time. Upon collision there was a flash of blinding white light and Caitlyn had to cover her eyes at the same time she felt a gust of hot air, coming from the point in which the two lasers collided, hitting her. Before she dropped her hands, Brandon had once again disappeared from her side and she heard more metallic collisions coming from above.

She knew she shouldn't be, but she was thankful that they were using lasers so much, as it allowed her to at least partially see what was going on. Brandon flew at the robot and punched him, sending him flying away, but AN-3 (or was it Veers?) kept coming back, firing lasers at Brandon, who replied with lasers of his own. They crashed into each other several times, with sometimes Brandon being pushed away and other times the machine being pushed away. Every time they clashed, it sounded like an explosion had gone off. At one point they stopped right in front of each other and for a second Caitlyn didn't know what was happening, but squinting under the light of the pre-dawn she could see that they were actually locking both pairs of hands, in a weird arm wrestle. It didn't last long before the robot spun around, sending Brandon flying once again, but Brandon recovered and came back at the robot so fast Caitlyn almost couldn't see him even at her distance.

Brandon was clearly faster, but the creature was incredibly resilient; he was probably the first thing Brandon punched that wasn't wrecked on the spot, though after a while she noticed that Brandon's lasers weren't actually touching it, even though the creature couldn't dodge them. It was when Veers fired a laser at the same time that one of Brandon's beams reached him that she noticed. Indeed, Brandon's heat vision didn't actually touch him, it dispersed maybe a couple of inches from him.

"Brandon!" She screamed, but he was too far from her to hear. She hoped that Brandon had noticed the force field, or whatever it was, himself, but she couldn't be certain.

Then, Brandon was able to punch the creature straight into the ground about two hundred yards from where Caitlyn was, releasing a dust cloud that actually reached her and made her cough a few times. Just when the sun cracked on the horizon, Brandon descended on top of the robot and started punching him over and over. By that point, all of Brandon's clothes had been completely burnt away, but he was otherwise completely unharmed. Knowing that Brandon would be pissed off for putting herself in danger, she walked closer and heard Brandon's screams and the continued metal clanks that came every time his fists connected with the robot.

"Who is this "father"? Who told you how to find us?!" Brandon screamed.

All he got as an answer was the robot kneeing him on the back and pushing him off. Veers stood back up, and that's when she noticed that, despite his resilience, there were clearly multiple marks all over his body left by Brandon's fists, and he was holding his right hand, that was missing two fingers, over the side of his face that didn't have the purple robot eye. Brandon once again came back with a fist in front of him, seemingly ready to fly right through the robot, but Veers shot a beam from his left hand that Brandon, in his momentum, couldn't dodge, and so Brandon was pushed away hundreds of yards.

Before Brandon could come back again, the robot jumped at her and she screamed at the same time as she felt his cold metallic left arm surrounding her torso. He was so huge that the top of her head barely reached what should be his sternum.

"Stay back, Brandon Breyer," AN-3 said when Brandon reached their location and landed a couple of yards away.

Brandon's eyes were shining and even with the little light of dawn she could see that he was shaking in anger.

"Let her go," Brandon said through gritted teeth. "Fucking let her go or I'll kill every single fucking person on this goddamned planet if only to make sure that whoever sent you dies."

"You're an incredible specimen, Brandon Breyer," AN-3 said after a pause, but there was something different in his voice. Before, it seemed like it had emotion, but now it actually sounded like a recording, or maybe as if he was reading something out loud. "Can't wait to know all I can about you. This was a test, and it seems like Son is not nearly ready enough to take you on. As for your questions, I can say that your friend KC tipped us off. Now, let AN-3 go and he won't harm Caitlyn Connor. Don't bother following him; you wouldn't want to leave her alone to be captured again, would you?"

And with that, the robot dropped the arm that was around her before taking off, leaving a very hot trail that almost burned her. She saw Brandon raising from the floor almost on instinct, but a second later he was next to her.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his voice clipped with fury.

She nodded before bursting in tears, "oh my God! What the hell was that?!"

"Seems like the others are as eager to get rid of me as I am to get rid of them."

"You couldn't destroy it?" She asked after she was able to calm herself down a little.

"I could have," he snapped with a glare. "That prick wouldn't have lasted a second if I had fought seriously, but I didn't want it blowing up or something and killing you, and I wanted to see if it would answer."

"Oh," she whispered, that made sense. "Did you notice that your eye lasers didn't touch him?"

"Yeah," he admitted, blinking once, he was clearly shocked that she had noticed. "The bastard was cold to the touch when I punched it, and I mean freezing cold, I suppose it had a way to dissipate heat around it. That's why I didn't want it touching you, I was sure it would cause you frostbite, are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I am," she answered, feeling around her body. "He was cold, but not that cold."

"Fucker must have a way to regulate it then, good," he paused for a second and looked away from her, deep in thought. "That fucking KC, I'm going to rip him apart in front of cameras as soon as I find him."

"What should we do now?" She asked.

He looked back at her, his eyes finally becoming green again. "We really need to get you somewhere safe. If any other of those assholes attack me, I want to get rid of it right then and there."

She hugged herself and nodded. "You're probably right... But I really wanted to talk to Michelle too."

"You can't be serious," he gaped at her.

"Yes, I am," she said with a glare, now that the shock was gone, she was starting to feel brave again. It was either that or succumbing to fear, and she didn't want that. "It might be the last time ever I speak to her, please?"

"You know that if that thing comes back and attacks us there, it might kill her, right? KC probably told whoever made it to spare you, but I doubt he'd extend the same courtesy to anyone else," he pointed out.

"We can meet her in secret," she offered. "We don't have to go to her house, you could go and pick her there, and then take her somewhere else."

"And you think she'll be alright with that?" Brandon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"And what is she going to do? Stop you?" She asked. "Let's just do this before some other horrible thing happens."


	30. His Lust

They  were flying towards the nearest town, this time she had insisted in his carrying her bridal style; flying piggyback would have meant having her crotch in direct contact with his naked butt. It wasn't long before she got distracted by his body being so directly in touch with her and she started tracing a finger along his collarbone, and almost before noticing she was kissing his neck. He grunted and slowed to a stop.

"Alright, get me horny and we'll never reach Topeka," he said in a low voice, already going towards the ground.

"Sorry! Sorry, let's keep going. I'll stop," she said, blushing.

He grunted again, but went back upwards. "If I get photographed with a boner, it'll be your fault now."

"Shut up," she said before changing the subject. "I forgot to ask you, did you use your electricity thing against that robot?"

"Yes," he said. "Not at the start, I wanted to see what it could do, but as soon as it grabbed you I tried to deactivate it. I think that's why it left in such a hurry and why its voice kind of changed."

"I see..." She paused for a moment while she remembered the other question she had, she knew it was important. When it hit her, she gasped loudly, making him stop again. "Wait! Back in Hawaii, you asked me not to come near you because of radiation, and you said before that the only thing able to move you like that robot was a nuclear blast. What if his attacks were nuclear and I'm getting radiation poisoning now?!"

He looked at the distance for a moment before he smiled. He shook his head. "I don't think its attacks were radioactive. First, they felt different to the nuclear explosion; its lasers felt almost solid, not that different to when it was punching me. And besides, the thing seemed to be determined in not hurting you, I don't think it would just fire radiation at you -when it first attacked me- if it knew it would hurt you."

She went over his words and felt her panic subsiding, he was making sense, and she truly hoped that he was right. She didn't want to die of radiation. "Okay, but maybe we should find a nuclear plant or something, to get cleaned up."

"Sounds good," he said before resuming his flight.

Finally, they spotted a small town in the distance, and Brandon left her at the outskirts while he went to look for new clothes for him and some food. He came back ten minutes later wearing a flannel shirt, cargo pants, some old sneakers and a baseball cap, and he was carrying some sandwiches and drinks. She was tempted to ask him if he hurt anyone but knew it would be futile to ask, so she just dug into the food. After they were full, they took off again, in a slightly different direction they had come in.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Didn't you say you wanted to go to a nuclear plant first?" He asked in return. "I looked it up and the nearest one is this way."

"Oh, alright."

An hour later, around midday if the sun was any indication, they reached what she supposed was the nuclear plant. Brandon left her nearby and, taking her mask, he went in, triggering the alarms. Like with the Honolulu airport, they were shut down a couple of minutes later, and not long after, he came back.

"Let's go," he said, lifting her bridal style and giving her a hazmat mask, which she put on right away.

"Is this really necessary?" She talked through the mask. "Everyone already knows about us anyway."

"The government knows," he countered. "And as far as we know, they haven't made it public. Everyone else just suspects, do you want them to confirm it?"

"I guess not," she said when they landed in front of a building near the entrance of the plant, and they went in. She ignored the people running away; if anything, she was glad  that they were alive.

They finally reached two sets of showers and Brandon instructed to go first into the furthest ones away, which were behind crystal doors, and she obeyed. Brandon, being his usual shameless self, quickly stripped... and promptly stood there waiting for her to follow suit instead of going in.

"What?" She asked, making no move to shed her clothes. She was painfully aware that, while Brandon had touched all over her body, he hadn't actually seen her completely naked yet.

"We gotta clean ourselves," he said, sporting a huge, shit-eating grin. "Come on, drop 'em."

She blushed, but finally decided that they were going to shower together at some point anyway and, if anything, cleaning any possible radiation was as good an excuse as any. Avoiding his gaze, she took off her clothes and walked quickly towards the showers.

"Now that is nice," he commented, walking directly behind her. She didn't need to ask to know what he was staring at.

The water that came from these showers was strange, feeling weirdly oily and then she remembered something about cleaning gels for radiation, which she supposed this was. When she was completely covered on the weird stuff, Brandon, who of course had kept looking at her like a pervert, told her that now they could go to the normal showers. She obeyed and followed him, walking back out of the crystal doors. She tried not to, but couldn't keep herself from staring at his backside and she noticed, not for the first time -though the weird substance did help to highlight it- his back dimples and his butt. It wasn't quite yet the muscular butt she'd seen in some actors in a few movies, but she knew it was only a matter of time. She understood his earlier words then, it _was_ nice.

He suddenly turned around and caught her staring, prompting him to smirk. She blushed again before she turned around herself and quickly showered, now with normal water. After she deemed herself clean enough, he passed her a towel and she quickly dried herself. She was about to reach for her panties when she was enveloped in his arms and felt both his dick poking at her butt and his lips on her neck.

"Stop it!" She exclaimed, her voice higher than normal. "I'm pretty sure that there are cameras in this place!"

"I don't care," he said, his voice low.

"But I do!" She yelled.

"Please..." he pleaded, and just like back in that forest, his tone made her shiver, but this time she managed to keep her head clear.

"No, Brandon!" She said, trying to pry his arms away. "I'm not ready!"

"But why does it matter?" He asked, a touch of annoyance creeping into his voice.

"So you're going to force me?" She was slightly surprised at how calm her voice had sounded.

He stopped. For a moment neither of them moved an inch, and then he dropped his arms before she felt a rush of wind. She blinked a couple of times and looked around, noticing that both he and his clothes were gone. Feeling weird at being left alone all of a sudden, she threw her clothes back on and walked out of the showers. He was waiting for her at the entrance of the building, the ski mask back on, which reminded her to put on the hazmat mask he'd given her.

"Ready?" He asked in a monotone, looking away from her.

"Yes," she said, her own voice not showing any emotion either.

With no other words, he lifted her on his back and they flew again in the direction of Topeka. Neither of them said anything until they finally reached the city. He landed behind a building and they walked to the nearest dinner, where they had lunch and paid with some of her savings.

After the waitress removed their plates, and feeling both a pit in her stomach and tired of the silence, she asked. "are you angry?"

From across the table, he removed his eyes from the window and looked at her. "Yes."

The nonchalance of his answer, instead of making her feel sad, angered her. "Fine, you know you can leave at any time, right?"

He snorted and looked back out the window, saying nothing. His attitude only pissed her off even more and she made to stand up.

"Why do you bother?" He asked, still not looking at her. "You know I'm not letting you walk away."

"Why not?" She asked, dropping back on her seat. "Didn't you just say you were angry?"

"I am angry," he said, finally looking back at her. "So what? Are you going to leave me because I'm angry?"

"I'm not leaving," she whispered, her eyes on the table.

"Then what was that?"

"I'm angry too, and wanted to take a walk," she answered. It was the truth, and she hoped he got that.

"Whatever," he said, looking back outside.

"So what? I'm supposed to do anything you want?" She sneered.

He snorted again. "Please, don't pretend you don't want it."

She blushed, and it was her turn to look out the window. "I'm... It's not... We're still too young for that."

"We're fourteen," he reminded.

"Exactly." She gave him a look.

"Why does our age matter?"

"Because it just does!" She exclaimed and quickly looked around hoping nobody was looking at them. Thankfully, nobody was. In a lower volume, she continued. "We're still growing and... And it's just too soon, I wouldn't feel comfortable."

He looked at her for a long time before sighing. "Fine, when then?"

She blinked once. "What do you mean?"

"Give me a date, I'll stop asking you to do it until then."

For the umpteenth time, she wished she had her mother back, she'd have been someone to give her an idea about such a date. Then again, her mother would've probably told her to wait until she was thirty.

She sighed deeply. "Two years."

"What?!" He asked, and he actually looked crestfallen.

She blushed at his look. "I don't know, sixteen seems like a good age to start doing that."

"Jesus fuck... Come on, how about fifteen? A lot of people do it for the first time at that age!" he offered. Actually, he was pleading, which made her gape at him.

Looking back out the window and blushing, she whispered. "Fine, I'll consider it."

"Good," he said and she looked at him to notice that he was finally smiling, which made her smile in return. With the awkwardness finally gone, they talked about nothing in particular until the sun was setting.

"Let's go," he said as he stood up.

They walked out the diner and back to the neighboring building. From there, they flew to the suburbs, and he dropped her at the outskirts of a forest nearby before taking off again. She stood there, staring at nothing in particular, but then she was sure she heard steps and maybe a voice coming from the trees, and she quickly looked in the direction from which the sounds came.

"Who's there?" She asked, trying to sound more confident than she felt. There was no answer.

Before panic could set in, though, Brandon came back, carrying Michelle -who looked scared out of her wits, although she wasn't screaming- on his arms. The spark of jealousy she felt at seeing him carry another girl like that made her stop caring about the noises; she told herself that it was probably just some hitchhiker anyway.

Brandon dropped Michelle a few feet from her and her friend looked around until she noticed her and all but ran to her arms.

"Oh my God! Caitlyn!" Michelle exclaimed, hugging her tightly.

"Hi!" She answered.

Michelle let her go, but kept her hands on her shoulders. She then looked at Brandon -who had taken off the mask and was looking away in the direction of the city- and then back at Caitlyn. Michelle hugged her again and whispered in her ear, "your boyfriend is an asshole."

Caitlyn giggled and replied, "you have no idea."


	31. His Influence

"So what are you doing here?" Michelle asked after they sat on the floor, their backs to a tree. Brandon remained standing where he was, his back to them and his face trained on the city.

Caitlyn blinked a couple of times at his choosing to keep his distance, wondering if he was trying to give her more privacy this time around. Maybe he just didn't want to risk hearing another sob story. "You did ask me to tell you everything, didn't you?"

"Well yes... Wait, you went to Gwen's already, didn't you?" Michelle asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Caitlyn asked with a frown.

"Well, I didn't really know, but she sent me a few weird, cryptic messages about you through the day. For a second I thought she was going crazy," Michelle explained.

Caitlyn smiled. "She probably was, we told her that she couldn't tell anyone about us. Suppose she could barely resist the urge to gossip."

Michelle giggled. "That seems like a likely explanation. So you came to tell me everything, huh?"

"Yes?" Caitlyn asked, an eyebrow raised at Michelle's narrowed eyes.

"Good, my first question is why him?" Michelle asked. She _had_ lowered her voice, but nonetheless Caitlyn quickly looked at Brandon, who thankfully gave no sign of having heard.

"Shhh," Caitlyn urged also gesturing with her hands. "He really, _really_ doesn't like anybody questioning him. Please don't piss him off!"

Michelle blinked once before an unmistakable expression of pity settled on her face. "Listen to yourself, Cat. You're terrified of him."

Caitlyn frowned again, not liking Michelle's tone one bit. "I'm not scared of him."

Her friend only raised her eyebrows.

"It's true," she whispered quickly. "I'm not afraid of what he might do to me. I'm afraid of what he might do to _you_."

"Really?" Michelle inquired. "I still remember your hand, Cat. And even that barely even matters anymore -you did make a good cause about his being sorry for that when you first told us- no, look at what he's done around the world."

"I'm well aware of what he is," Caitlyn snapped.

"Then how come you're still with him?" Michelle asked, still seeming genuinely concerned for her friend.

"Michelle, trust me when I tell you that that he would be much, much worse if I leave him," Caitlyn declared, sparing a glance in Brandon's direction.

"What?" Michelle asked, also looking at him. Caitlyn could plainly see that Michelle saw only the monster almost everyone else did. "How could he be even worse?"

"Please," Caitlyn said with a snort. "Why do you think he hasn't killed even _more_ people? His kill count could easily be in the hundreds of millions, but he mostly restrains himself to buildings and collateral damage, or people who attack him first. He listens to me, even he might not admit it, but I do tell him every time to spare people."

"What if you're overestimating yourself? What if he hasn't killed more only because he hasn't wanted to? And even if it's true, what if he gets bored of you and stops listening to you, and you just become another casualty? And all that aside, why do you have to sacrifice yourself?" Michelle asked quickly, all in one breath.

Caitlyn gaped at her friend, she already expected that Michelle would be a little more judgmental than Gwen, but this was a whole other level. She quickly looked away and whispered, "you're starting to sound like my mother."

"And speaking of your mom, what does she think of this?"

"My mother is dead, Michelle," Caitlyn snapped, still not looking at her friend.

She still could hear the loud gasp, though. "Oh my God, Caitlyn, I'm so, sorry..."

"It's fine," Caitlyn lied.

They stayed silent for a moment, before Michelle asked, in an even lower whisper. "Was it Bran...?"

Her head quickly turned in Michelle's direction, and her friend's shocked expression told Caitlyn that Michelle had understood that that had been the wrong thing to ask. "No! How can you even ask that?!"

Of course, Michelle didn't need to know that Brandon would have done it at the drop of a hat. Before Michelle could put her foot in her mouth again, Caitlyn answered the unasked question. "It was the government, they kidnapped her along with me and killed her when they tried to question me about him."

"Oh my God, Caitlyn, that's horrible. I'm so..."

"I already told you, it's fine," Caitlyn whispered. Once again an awkward silence descended between them, and Caitlyn could tell that Michelle was biting her tongue trying not to make her even angrier. She sighed. "It's fine, I know you have more questions, ask away."

"It doesn't matter," Michelle said with a sigh of her own. "It's not my place to judge you, I'm just happy that you're safe. So I guess the only question that matters is if you're happy about this... about him."

Caitlyn looked back at Brandon, who had crossed his arms but otherwise hadn't moved. "Well, it's not precisely peaches and roses, we've been on the run since we escaped, and we keep getting attacked but... yes, I'm happy about him. I love him."

Caitlyn wasn't shocked at Michelle's sharp intake of breath and she turned back towards her friend to notice Michelle staring at her, eyes wide. "You love him?"

"Yes, I know. I probably shouldn't. He's done awful things, and he will do more awful things, but it's true. I love him, I want to stay with him."

Caitlyn looked down at her hand, and saw Michelle's hand slowly covering it and squishing. "I won't say I understand it, and I probably would have done something to distance myself, but I know you're stronger than me. So I guess I can say that I'm happy that you're ok with this."

"Thanks," Caitlyn said, it was probably as good as she was going to get from Michelle.

"And what about him, does he love you?" Michelle asked, and a semblance of the old teasing crept back into her voice.

Caitlyn smiled, almost despite herself. "Yes, actually he said it first. That's one of the biggest reasons I'm 'ok with this' like you said; I know he won't ever hurt me... Well, _again_. He threatened to destroy Washington DC for me."

"Really?" Michelle asked, leaning towards her, clearly eager to know more about their adventures.

"Yeah, that's how he rescued me from captivity, in fact. We were kept in separate places, and he threatened the president himself just so they could tell him where they were keeping me."

"That's impressive," Michelle commented, nodding. "I mean, it's terrible for both you and for the people in Washington DC, but impressive."

Caitlyn snorted again, but still caught her friend's playful tone. "Gee, thanks, he didn't have to follow through with it, you know?"

"Well, yes, as far as I know the capital is still intact," Michelle said with an eyeroll. "But still, it's kind of horrible that he can make such threats."

"And that's why it's important that I stay with him, so he doesn't actually go through with those threats..."

"But it sounds like he made it _because_ of you, not in spite of you," Michelle pointed out.

Caitlyn glared at her friend, not ok with her going back to judgment. "Trust me, at this point, if I leave him, he will destroy far more than Washington."

Michelle looked back at her with a neutral expression and then sighed before speaking again. "Are you truly sure that he listens to you, Cat?"

"We didn't have to come here, you know? We were on our way to meeting his cults; the only reason we came here was because I insisted."

Michelle blinked once. "You were going to the cults? Why?"

"We thought they could help us with keeping me safe. The government can't do anything to Brandon, but I'm getting tired of running from them."

Michelle nodded, looking pensive. "That makes sense... I wish you didn't have to, though."

"So do I," Caitlyn agreed, leaning her head on the trunk of the tree. "But such is life."

"Is it? From everything you've told, it doesn't actually seem like you chose any of this, Cat. In fact, how much of what you told us back then was true?"

Caitlyn's mouth was agape again. "What are you implying?"

"Please, Cat. I'm not an idiot, you told us back then that he basically begged to let him help you and to talk to him. He's obviously not the type to beg," Michelle said, looking away.

Caitlyn was bristling, but she counted to ten. Michelle did have a point, and she guessed that she owed her friend the truth now. Finally, she whispered, "no, he isn't."

"So how did it really happen?" Michelle asked.

"He did help me and I did grow to like him during that time, but I guess it was less pleading and more him going into my room and not taking no for an answer..." Caitlyn whispered.

"So, I'm right, you didn't choose any of this," Michelle said with an air of triumph.

"Maybe not, but still, such is life. Not everything that happens to us is because we wanted it to happen," Caitlyn snapped.

"I'm sorry, Cat," Michelle whispered. "But I just really want to make sure that you know what you're doing."

"I'm fine, thanks," Caitlyn said, more forcefully than she intended. She cleared her throat and continued, more softly, "I'm sorry, it's just that I've been really stressed lately; I shouldn't take it out on you. But I can assure you that I am happy with him and that I truly love him. Would I have chosen to stay with him if it weren't because he can take whatever he wants? Maybe not, but then again, if he were like any other guy, I might have gone out with him anyway, eventually."

"I do remember that you were always friendly with him..." Michelle offered.

"See? I'm not some Stockholm syndrome martyr."

"I haven't ruled that out, but fine, I'll stop pestering you about it..." Michelle paused until a small, teasing smile appeared on her face. "So how's he in the sack?"

For the third time, Caitlyn gaped at her friend, though this time her cheeks were bright red. "Oh my God! What kind of question is that?!"

"Oh come on," Michelle giggled, looking at Brandon for a split second. "You're telling me that you've been alone for a while, after seeing each other for years, and now that he's getting kind of hot and with all this power and you still haven't done anything?"

Caitlyn looked away -which, judging by Michelle's giggle, was confirmation in itself- before answering. "We've done some... some stuff, but no, we haven't... you know, done 'it' yet."

"And what have you done?" Michelle seemed to be delighted at slipping into a more normal conversation. "And how good is he at this... stuff?"

"Oh my God! I'm not going to give you details! That's private... But I can say that he's pretty good," Caitlyn answered with a mischievous smile.

Michelle giggled again, but before any of them could say anything else, a voice came from the forest.

"Brightburn!" A man yelled at the same time as he walked out of the forest around sixty feet to Caitlyn's left, his hands raised and around ten other people behind him, their hands also raised. There was nothing weird about them, if anything, they seemed like a group of people who had gone camping, although Caitlyn did notice that all of them were wearing the same red armband.

Brandon quickly turned around, eyes red. He spared a glance in Caitlyn's direction at the same time as he quickly raised in the air and yelled. "Who the fuck are you? What do you want?"

To all three teens' complete surprise, all of the people knelt until their faces were on the floor. It was then that Caitlyn noticed that their armbands weren't wholly red, there was a black symbol emblazoned on them, a symbol Caitlyn knew very well.

"We're your followers, sir."


	32. His Followers

"Who?" Michelle asked.

"How long have you been there?!" Caitlyn asked.

"How the fuck did you find us?" Brandon asked, still hovering above them.

The man who had spoken, who seemed to be the leader of the group, lifted his head from the ground and looked at Brandon. The mix of fear and fascination in his face almost caused Caitlyn to laugh.

"Sir, we were on our way to your birthplace, but some of us decided to meet here in Topeka in hopes that we could convince more people to go," the man spoke.

"And what were you doing in the woods?" Caitlyn asked, still unsure of what to make of these people.

The man blinked once and looked from her to Brandon and back to her. Then she saw a spark of recognition in his face and he immediately planted his face back on the ground, which in turn caused Caitlyn's mouth to fall open.

"I'm sorry ma'am, we weren't sure of who you were so when we first saw our master dropping you here. We didn't know if it was safe to approach or not..."

"'Master'?" Michelle asked. Caitlyn had to resist a chuckle at the mockery in her friend's tone.

"You didn't answer her question," Brandon snapped.

"Oh, right. We didn't want to stay at a hotel because we didn't want to attract any attention to ourselves, sir, so we set up a camp in the forest."

Brandon said nothing, instead flying high above the trees and coming back a few seconds later. He nodded at her; the guy wasn't lying. Brandon landed next to Caitlyn, his eyes still fixated on the cultists, who themselves were still kneeling while staring at him.

"What do you think?" He asked in a low voice.

For a second, Caitlyn was tempted to ask him why he was asking her but the crease in his forehead told her that he was as confused as she was.

"Weren't you guys looking for them anyway?" Michelle interjected.

Brandon stayed silent, not giving any indication of having heard Michelle, so Caitlyn spoke, "well... yes, but we thought we'd find _them_ , not the other way around."

"This isn't what I was expecting," Brandon murmured.

"Yeah... I don't think these people are in a place to protect anyone," Caitlyn agreed.

"Why don't you ask them? It can't hurt, I'm sure there are more of them," Michelle pointed out.

She was right, of course. Caitlyn looked at Brandon, who didn't seem to be in a hurry to talk, so she took a step forward. "Do you guys know of any more people like... hmmm... like you?"

"Oh yes, ma'am," the same guy answered -she was already getting annoyed at being addressed that way- he nodded repeatedly as he looked at Brandon. "You have many followers all over the country, sir. All over the world, in fact."

"Why?" That was Michelle, and Caitlyn glanced at Brandon, whose mouth was now in a thin line. She really needed to get Michelle to shut up.

The man looked at Michelle like one would look at a swearing parrot. "Excuse me, who are you?"

"I'm..."

"Shhh!" Caitlyn said, gesturing at Michelle to stay quiet. "She's a friend of mine. It's not important."

"I see... Anyway, the reason there are many of us is because we believe that the master is here to spur change into this world, destroy false beliefs and bring an end to a stale world order," the man explained, once again prostrating. All the others followed suit.

Caitlyn gaped at them, one would think that Brandon was the illuminati or something. Not knowing what else to say, she turned to Brandon, who himself kept staring at them with the same frown.

"I... I don't... what do you think?" She asked.

"I don't know, I had read some of the stuff that some bloggers were saying about them, but never paid it much attention,' Brandon answered.

"I also read some, but I never actually expected to meet these weirdos."

"So you guys were looking for them but didn't actually plan what to say when you found them?" Michelle asked in a low voice.

Brandon glared at her, which only told Caitlyn that he, in fact, hadn't planned that far ahead. She couldn't blame him, neither had she.

"In our defense," Caitlyn whispered. "We weren't actually expecting to find them so soon."

Brandon turned back towards his followers. "Why were you going to Brightburn?"

 "We wanted to learn more about you, sir."

"Specially with your recent inactivity, my lord," one of the women of the group -the youngest one, to Caitlyn's annoyance- interjected. "Some of us were hoping to find out where you were, or even get to see you..."

"That place is being constantly watched over by the government," Brandon informed the group.

"We know, sir; that's why we wanted to keep a low profile," the leader said.

"You 'know'?" Caitlyn interjected. "How?"

The man looked from Caitlyn to Brandon and back at his companions, a couple of whom nodded before he answered. "We'd rather not talk about this out in the open, sir. What I can say is that you have adherents everywhere, _everywhere_."

It wasn't difficult to catch the guy's meaning, and Caitlyn glanced at Brandon, whose frown had given way to a slightly surprised expression.

"And how do you all communicate? How did you find out? How were you told?" Brandon asked.

"We use different resources, sir, most of it is through the dark web and other encrypted channels, though," the man answered.

"And you can do that even over here while camping?" Caitlyn asked.

"It's more difficult, ma'am, but since this is just something the few of us planned, it didn't really require any big secrecy," an older woman, kneeling next to the leader, said.

"And why do you bother with all that? Talking about people and going places is not illegal, you know?" Michelle asked.

This time Brandon didn't seem bothered by Michelle's interjection; it _was_ a good question.

"It's well known by now that you are being targeted by the government, sir. When you first revealed yourself, people were discussing your arrival out in public forums, but some of the participants, more in the know, started to suggest that we should strive for privacy, both for our safety and yours."

Caitlyn made a face; she didn't even need to look at Brandon to know that his eyes were blazing. A second later, he was holding the leader by the throat while hovering a few feet above the ground. The entire group gasped almost in unison and all of them planted their faces on the ground so fast that for a second Caitlyn thought that they had knocked themselves out on purpose.

"My safety?" Brandon said, gritting his teeth. "I don't need your concern for my safety, no one can threaten me!"

"I know sir! I know!" The man choked out, tears falling down his cheeks. "I chose my words poorly! I meant that we didn't want to inconvenience you! I'm sorry, master, please have mercy!"

Brandon let the guy fall to the ground, and he awkwardly shuffled until he was prostrated like everyone else. Brandon slowly floated down until he was again next to Caitlyn. The cultists seemed far too cowered to say anything, or raise their heads, so Brandon took the opportunity to talk to her.

"What should we do?"

"I don't know... Maybe we could ask them where they're going next, or if they meet somewhere," she offered.

"What if this is all a trap?" He asked.

She looked from him to them, their faces still on the ground. "We could do what we did back in my house: I could meet with them while you keep your distance in case they try something."

"How will he know if they try something while you're in the house with them? He might be too late in saving you," Michelle cut in, looking genuinely worried.

That was a real possibility, and the reason why she wasn't too keen on the plan, but it was Brandon who answered Michelle's question. To Caitlyn's surprise, he was smirking. "I can handle it."

Michelle frowned. "How? Can you see through walls or something?"

He shook his head. "No, but I'm good with gadgets; I think I could make a wireless panic button or something. You'd have to hold it at all times you're with them and the moment anyone does something suspicious, you could just press it."

Caitlyn frowned. "How wide a range would something like that have? What if you're not around?"

He looked away with a frown. "I would stay close until I'm sure they can be trusted. Then I could still, I don't know, set it up so it sends an email or something; I would get back as soon as possible."

"Or you could just stay with me at all times," Caitlyn offered, knowing it was futile.

"I told you, Caitlyn. I'm not hiding, in fact, with every day that passes I'm more and more convinced I shouldn't bother hiding _you_  at all and that I should just destroy a big city or something. A warning to leave us alone," he snapped, glaring at her with bright red eyes.

She grabbed his hand and squished, ignoring Michelle's gasp and look of horror. "Fine, fine, I'm sorry I said it."

He closed his eyes and sighed deeply before turning back to his followers. "What were you planning to do after going to Brightburn?"

Tentatively, the leader raised his face again. "We didn't really have any plans, sir, other than visiting the town."

"So are you saying that this is just a one time camping trip? Is that all you guys are?" Brandon asked, his voice laced with disgust.

"No! Of course not, sir!" The guy exclaimed. "Some of us have set up safe places to meet and I've gone to a few meetings. Also, we're not the first ones going in these trips, many of us have gone, that I know of..."

"How safe are these places?" Brandon interrupted, trying to hide his irritation.

"Well, sir, we've done our best to stay out of the radar and we've had help from people more in the know. We keep gathering more adherents every day and our resources are increasing, but since none of us had been able to contact you, we weren't sure of exactly what to do..."

Brandon glared at the guy until he, cowered, bowed again. Caitlyn waited for a full minute before she realized that Brandon wasn't going to swallow his pride and actually ask for help.

She rolled her eyes, making sure none of the cultists saw her. "Right now, the only thing we really need is a place where I could stay away from the government."

The guy spoke, though she barely heard him since he didn't lift his head. "I think... I think that could be arranged, ma'am. As soon as possible, we'll contact as many of the master's people as we can to see when we could have a place suitable for you."

"What about the safe places you said you already had?" Michelle asked.

"That was for us. If we're to have the lady as our guest, we'd need to double down on security and accommodations," the guy said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, though he still kept his face on the ground.

Caitlyn blushed, being addressed as "the lady" didn't sound half bad. At least until Michelle ruined it with a mocking whisper - "'the lady'?" - and Caitlyn turned away a little so that none of the cultists saw her elbowing her friend, eliciting an "ow!"

"How will I know when you guys have a place ready?" Brandon asked, his tone was indifferent, but Caitlyn could see that his body was completely on edge.

The same girl who had spoken before quickly cut in, "you could stay with us until then, my lord."

"No!" Caitlyn exclaimed with more venom than she intended. "Bra... Brightburn is in the middle of something right now and he can't stay at one place."

Brandon stared at her with eyebrows raised and Michelle had a hand on her mouth, trying not to laugh and failing at it. The girl cultist only lowered her head in response.

"In that case, maybe we could..." The man started saying.

"You could have my spare cell phone, my lord!" The same girl exclaimed, clearly refusing to give up. She raised her head again, all smiles. "It already has the encrypted chat application we're using, we can use it to contact you and let you know when you can come!"

Brandon turned towards Caitlyn, who quickly hid her glare at the girl and shrugged. He turned back towards the cultists and wordlessly lifted a hand. The girl quickly sprang to her feet and all but skipped towards Brandon, though still keeping her head low, and handed him her phone. Caitlyn couldn't help but notice that the girl spent a little too long touching Brandon's hand before she walked back towards the other followers. Caitlyn then shook her head and chastised herself, she was being ridiculous.

"Very well," Brandon said after clearing his throat. "You don't need to bother going to Brightburn; whatever you want to know about me, you won't find it there anyway. Find a place for Caitlyn."

"As you command, sir. But may I ask at least one question?" The leader spoke.

Brandon glanced at Caitlyn before nodding.

"Like I said, we believe you're here to change this world. Others of your followers believe you're here to end it and begin anew. And some others believe you're here to command us and that we're meant to be your subjects. I can't presume to understand your will, but, if possible, I'd like to know if any of the groups is at least partially correct."

Brandon stared at the guy without opening his mouth, and Caitlyn took advantage of his pause to whisper in his ear, "I think you shouldn't answer him. At least not directly."

"What do you mean?" He whispered back.

"These people think you're a god. If sunday school ever taught me anything, it's that gods never give direct answers."

Michelle had walked towards them to try to listen to their whispers, but she took a step back at Caitlyn's glare. She would explain to her friends later if she needed to.

Brandon nodded and spoke up, loud enough for all to hear. "The only thing you need to know, and that you might or might not see once all is revealed, is that I am here to _take_ this world."


	33. His Enemies

Since neither Michelle nor Caitlyn were alright with being left alone with the cultists, they chose to walk away, Brandon hovering a couple of feet above them. He was floating backwards to make sure that the cultists didn't follow them.

"So what are you going to do now?" Michelle asked.

"I don't know," Caitlyn answered, heaving a deep sigh. "I'm still sick of running, but I'd rather way until these people prove they are not full of crap."

"Yeah, seems like the best choice," Michelle agreed, her eyes in the distance.

"What about you?" Caitlyn asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know... Gwen told me that she wanted to join me when we found the cults."

"Really? Why?" Michelle asked, turning toward Caitlyn with a slight frown.

"She hasn't told you?" Caitlyn asked in return, and Michelle only shook her head, looking genuinely confused. Caitlyn gave her a summary of Gwen's situation.

"Oh God," Michelle said. "That's awful."

"I know," Caitlyn said, glancing at Brandon, still right above them.

"Well... I don't think I'll be doing that," Michelle said.

"Didn't think you would," Caitlyn said with a smile. "I'm happy that you're happy."

"You will still chat with me, right?" Michelle asked, grabbing her hand.

"Of course I will, but it will have to be using random emails and stuff like that, I think," Caitlyn said.

"I wish I could visit you every now and then."

"Me too, but at least I can visit you," Caitlyn pointed out.

"Do it as often as you can, and bring Gwen along with you!" Michelle pleaded.

"I shall, even if it's diff..." Caitlyn started.

"Alright, we're far enough already," Brandon said when they were next to a mall. "Wait here, Caitlyn."

He barely gave them time to say goodbye before he picked up Michelle and took off. Caitlyn sat at one of the benches near the entrance of the mall and kept looking at every person who passed by, trying to take note of everyone to make sure nobody stared at her. She was looking at two guys who seemed to be talking animatedly a few yards from where she was. There was something about the guys that seemed off, but she couldn't put her finger on what; it was then that she noticed that one of them was looking at her, but he quickly looked away when he noticed she'd caught him.

Yeah, they were definitely here for her, or more likely for Brandon, and she was now in an internal debate over what to do. Brandon wouldn't take long, but she didn't know exactly what these guys could do until then, or she could walk away, but that meant the potential of getting separated from Brandon. Or maybe the man had simply noticed her staring and had just tried to make sure he didn't know her, and she was just being paranoid. She was practically squirming in her seat when a woman sat next to her, which calmed her a little; it was unlikely that these men would try something when they were practically surrounded by people.

Her relief was short-lived, though.

"Caitlyn Connor," the woman whispered, causing a shiver to run down Caitlyn's spine and goosebumps to break out all over her body. "We're not here to hurt you."

"Who are you?" She asked, trying to sound calm.

"That's not important..." The woman started saying.

"If you're from the government, you better not try anything." Caitlyn snapped. "Brandon will burn Washington DC to the ground if he doesn't find me here when he comes back."

"We're not working for your government, Caitlyn," the woman said, her tone of voice calm, even cheerful.

"Then who are you?" Caitlyn asked, if they weren't even from the USA, Brandon didn't have as clear leverage and maybe she wouldn't be able to deter whatever they had in mind. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. "Well, whatever, Brandon will not stop at DC, he'll destroy the world if I'm not returned to him in one piece."

"We know," the woman whispered. "Like I said, we're not here to hurt you."

"Then what do you want?" She snapped, getting tired of going in circles.

"We want to help you," the woman said simply.

It wasn't the first time Caitlyn heard, or read, those words and she looked more intently at the woman, trying to see any hint of recognition. The woman, however, was wearing a stylish headscarf which she had draped over her mouth, as well as sunglasses, doing a remarkably good job of hiding most of her face while appearing inconspicuous. The best Caitlyn could say about her is that the woman was young, probably no older than her thirties, and that her accent seemed british, but she wasn't entirely sure.

"You don't know me, Caitlyn, but I've contacted you before," the woman stated, seemingly having noticed Caitlyn's perusal without even looking at her.

It finally dawned on Caitlyn. "You're... You're KC?"

"You might call me that if you want," KC said. "Anyway, we don't have much time, Brandon Breyer will be coming back soon. We managed to find you, Caitlyn, so that means that the government agency looking for you can't be far behind. I'm not entirely sure what your next steps are, but I would recommend you leave the country for a while."

"Why are you pretending to care about us now?" Caitlyn inquired, her eyes narrowed. "You told everyone who I was."

"I did tell you I would blow the whistle if I didn't hear from you, Caitlyn," KC reminded.

"Yeah, right, whatever. We don't need you," Caitlyn said, trying to think of something that could stall the woman enough for Brandon to find her here.

KC, however, was clearly two steps ahead, for she stood up. "I'm sorry you see it that way, Caitlyn, but I am speaking the truth. If you want to get the government off your case, Brandon should live somewhere else. They're specially interested because, while he's attacked the whole world, he still lives here. It's worth to think about, and something else worth thinking about is that your loyalties shouldn't be with him. Regardless of your feelings, he's a monster, Caitlyn, and he needs to be stopped, and I know you could help."

"What are you...?" Caitlyn started, but the woman quickly walked away, ignoring Caitlyn's shouts. Caitlyn made to follow her, but the two men quickly stepped in front of her and blocked her way -intercepting her whenever she tried to move around them- for a couple of minutes before they too walked away. By then, the woman had already disappeared among the many people in the mall, and the men walked out at the same time Brandon walked in. She quickly ran towards him.

"Those guys!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Brandon asked, turning to look at the direction she was pointing, but Caitlyn simply took off running. "Hey! What are you doing?"

Caitlyn made it out the door and looked in all directions, but the men seemed to have vanished. She cursed inwardly.

"The hell is wrong with you?" Brandon asked when he was next to her.

"KC was here," she explained.

"What?!"

"Yes, she talked to me..." She started.

"Where did she go?" He interrupted.

"I don't know, I lost her among all the people, and the two guys she was with, they are hiding somewhere!"

"Fuck!" He swore and took off.

"Wait! What...?" But it was useless, he was hovering in circles all over the mall. People immediately started screaming and running in all directions, and Caitlyn had to quickly duck behind the nearby bench to avoid being trampled.

He came back a second later. "How the hell does she look like?"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed. "That's what I tried to say, she's wearing some headscarf and sunglasses, but I bet she took them off now."

"Fucking hell, how did she even know we were here?" He asked.

She shook her head. "I don't know, it's actually really creepy now that I think about it..."

"Fuck, she won't escape again..." He mused. "Anyway, what did she say?"

She dropped on the bench, deflated, before speaking, "she told me that we should get out of the country. And that I should help them, whoever they are, with stopping you."

"And what did you say?" He asked.

"Really?" She snapped, turning towards him. "You still think I am gonna work against you after...?"

"No," he said, shaking his head and waving his hand dismissively. "Not that, what did you think about leaving the country?"

"Oh, well," she stammered. "I hadn't given it any thought, I was thinking about KC and.."

"What's the point of that?" He asked. "Do you know where she went?"

"No," she answered with a glare. "But that actually seems like a good idea, if you're active in other places, maybe the government will care less about you, and less about me."

"Or I could attack Washington..."

"Please, you would only be doing it for me," she said quickly. "If it's for me, don't you think I get a say, this time?"

He looked at her with narrowed eyes, but finally sighed. "Fine, you still don't know the power you have..."

"I don't have any..."

"We already talked about this, as long as you're with me, you have power," he sentenced and she huffed. "Anyway, you want to leave? Where to?"

"I don't know..." She said slowly. "I kinda always wanted to visit Europe..."

"Europe it is, then. I do want to pay it another visit anyway," he said with a smirk that she chose to ignore. "But first we're going to Brightburn."

She looked at him, eyes wide. "What? Why?"

"There are a couple of things I want to do there," he said.

"What things?" She asked, already dreading the answer.

"You'll see, and you can get rid of that frown. There's hardly anyone for me to kill over there anyway."

"I guess that's true," she whispered. "But can we go tomorrow? Today has already been way too exciting for me and I'm exhausted."

"Really? This night isn't over yet, we've got something else to do," he said.

 "What are you thinking now?" She asked, frowning at his odd expression.

"You told me back in that forest that we should get you a radiography, and we never did," he pointed out.

"Well, no, but I'm pretty sure that if I had something broken, we'd have noticed now," she informed, moving her hands around her body to help her point.

"That's not what I mean," he said before lifting her.

And so she found herself in front of a radiologist who seemed to be on the border of a nervous breakdown, trying to look at anywhere but Brandon, who was standing next to him. Brandon was clear to the staff that, if he saw anybody in uniform or in large numbers entering the hospital, he'd blow the whole place up.

They waited for a few minutes until the images were ready, upon which the radiologist whispered, "holy crap."

"What?!" Brandon and Caitlyn asked simultaneously. And the man only replied by handling Caitlyn the pictures, still trying to interact with Brandon as little as possible.

She quickly ignored the pictures of her arms, the right one still showing the evidence of the fractures Brandon had caused, but there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary besides that, just as she expected. And then she did a double take upon seeing the picture of her spine. There, at its base in her lower back, there was a small, rectangular shape.

"What the hell is that?" Caitlyn asked, gaping at the physician.

The doctor only shook his head, bewildered, but Brandon piped in. "If I were to bet, I'd say that that's some sort of tracking device."

"Oh my God!" Caitlyn exclaimed. That answered the mystery of how the hell people seemed to keep stumbling upon them. She shook her head. "But it doesn't make sense! I was only asleep for three days! I don't think I would have healed of this during that time, I hadn't even noticed a scar!"

"You don't have one," Brandon pointed out. "How come she doesn't?"

"What... Whatever that is," the radiologist choked out. "It's actually only below the skin, I... I think that in skilled hands, it would only need a small incision to slip the thing in... And it's thin enough to pass unnoticed; it's not uncommon for that kind of shallow cut to heal without leaving scar."

"But still! In only three days?!" Caitlyn asked, feeling hysterics creeping in.

"Now that... That is unlikely," the physician said with a nod.

"I guess Bishop lied to you, then. We were locked during a little over three weeks, how long was I asleep while you weren't?"

Caitlyn tried to delve into her memories, but the time in that facility now blurred among the mourning for her mother and worrying about Brandon. "I'm not sure, I could've sworn it was over two weeks, but I wouldn't be able to tell how much."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter now. Remove that," Brandon ordered the doctor.

"What?" The man asked. "I don't have the authority to..."

"Then look for whoever the fuck can organize it," Brandon snapped, his red eyes making the doctor shrink on his clothes. "That's getting removed tonight or heads will start rolling."

The man all but ran away, and less than thirty minutes later Caitlyn was on a hospital robe, laying face down in a surgical bed and surrounded by a couple of doctors and nurses. They reassured her that the procedure was fairly simple and they were just taking customary precautions with support staff, but nonetheless, she couldn't help but worry until the anesthesia kicked in and everything went black.


	34. His Message

When she came to, she was lying on her side, a dull ache coming from her lower back. She called for Brandon, but he didn't reply and then, with some effort, she looked around, only to realize that she was indeed alone in the room. She was about to panic and call for someone when he came in. He was frowning, and she wondered if he had slept at all.

"Hey," she greeted, her voice hoarse.

He had been walking directly to the window, but turned to her at the sound of her voice and smiled. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"A bit dizzy, and my lower back hurts a little, but I think I'm fine," she answered, moving into a more comfortable position.

"Good," he said. "They told me that you would be good to leave tomorrow morning, if there wasn't any complication."

"Oh, well that seems fair..."

"We'll probably have to leave a bit sooner, though," he stated, walking towards the window.

"Why?"

"They think they can mock me," he said, his eyes flashing red momentarily. "I told them that nobody was to come in, but seems like a bit of a crowd is gathering outside..."

"Oh, are they military?" She asked.

"Can't tell, it's still too dark, could be though."

"Do you think they'll try to come in?" She asked, a growing trepidation breaking through the haze of anesthesia.

"Nah," he said, smiling at her again. "I don't think they're that stupid, but just in case I'll throw some people off the roof."

"No, please!" She exclaimed. "We can go now, I can just... ow."

She felt the shallow injury being pulled and quickly fell back on the bed, not missing his eyes flashed red again.

"Please, don't hurt the people here... they're just sick and... in the hospital," she stammered, trying not to show the pain she was feeling through her voice.

"What do you think I should do, then?" He snapped.

"Can we just wait... Maybe they won't try anything; they might even be some of your followers..."

He snorted at that, before narrowing his eyes. "Yeah, right. Fine, I won't kill anybody here, I'll just go for the ones who came even though they shouldn't have."

He was out the window before she could even answer and soon she heard screams coming from the outside. She turned around, covering her ears, and let the sleepiness claim her once more, ignoring the tear that fell down her cheek. She dreamed of red eyes, and of people screaming, but she also dreamed of Brandon, his kissing her and holding her in his arms and, finally, she dreamed of hundreds, thousands of people, all of them in uniform and wearing black on red armbands, all standing on a field looking at her.

"Caitlyn," she heard, entirely too soon, feeling as if she had only slept for a minute. There was also a hand poking her shoulder.

"Hmmmm?" She asked, rubbing her eyes before she opened them, only to see Brandon looking intently at her, his face barely a few inches away. "What is it?"

"They're here to check up on you," he said before stepping aside, a doctor approaching her while trying to keep as much distance between himself and Brandon as possible. Even in her confused state, she didn't miss that the man had obviously been crying.

"He.. Hello, Caitlyn," the doctor stammered.

"Hello," she greeted with a sigh.

"Would you mind turning around? I just need to see that the incision is healing well, we didn't even need stitches as it can heal on its own."

Caitlyn turned to lie on her face, but couldn't resist asking, "if I didn't even need stitches, why did you put me under?"

"I insisted," Brandon cut in. "Didn't want you in any pain."

"Thanks," she said, though she would rather they had just used local painkillers.

"Well," the doctor said. "It's healing alright, I think you're good to go, but try to not make any sudden movements and drink the medicine I gave to... to... Mr. Breyer. How are you feeling?"

"I think I'm ok, thank you," she said. "Where are my clothes?"

"Right here," Brandon said with a smirk. "Do you need any help?"

The doctor, who was already walking along the wall, trying not to come near Brandon, towards the door, quickly increased his pace and all but ran away.

Caitlyn blushed, but then she remembered what he'd done last night and, frowning, she snapped, "no, I don't need any help."

He frowned and took a step back but he only crossed his arms without making any move to turn around. They glared at each other for a minute before Caitlyn sighed, accepting that he _was_ going to watch if he couldn't participate. She turned around, trying to only show her profile to him, and quickly took off the hospital robe and put on her clothes. When she was ready, she looked back at him, and he was giving her a lazy smile that made her blush again.

"Do you think you can fly?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think so," she replied. "We should go slow, though."

"Alright," he said, and carefully lifted her on his back before flying out the window.

She saw nobody outside, and closed her eyes trying not to ponder how many of the people there died because of her having been there. Brandon picked up altitude until Topeka seemed like a model far below them. She didn't miss that they were flying in the direction of Brightburn, but Brandon dropped back to the ground long before they had reached their hometown, near a dinner by the road.

"Suppose you're hungry," he explained before she could ask the reason for their stop.

She only nodded, not even looking at him as she went in. She ignored his few attempts at making conversation before and after they ordered.

"What's your problem?" He asked, clearly fed up by her attitude.

She sighed. "Nothing, nothing is my problem."

"So you're acting like a bitch for no reason?"

She glared at him. "There was nobody outside the hospital today."

He glared back. "So?"

"Did you kill them all?"

"What do you want me to answer?" He asked, his eyes narrowing.

"The truth," she replied, looking down at the table and letting out a sigh.

"I don't understand what you're looking for here, Caitlyn."

"I just want to know."

"You know what I am, Caitlyn, you know what I think of them. That's never going to change."

"I know, alright! I know!" She snapped, ignoring the look from the only two other customers, three tables over. She continued in a lower volume. "I just want to know, I need to know how many people died because of me."

"Because of you?" He asked, frowning in confusion.

"We were in that hospital because we had to remove that thing, didn't we? They probably came to see if there was a way they could prevent that from happening," she explained.

He sighed. "So what? They were going to look for me one way or another, whoever came knew they were going to die."

"So you killed them all?" She asked, trying not to let any tears fall.

"No, I didn't," he said with a teasing smirk. "I fired some heat beams at them, but most ran away." She gave him a smile, but it didn't last after his next words. "I did catch some of them, though."

She sighed again, she knew what it meant to be with him and frankly she was learning to put the killer in him in the back of her mind, a place she preferred to ignore. Nonetheless, she owed it to the world to keep telling him to spare people, and she allowed herself a victory in that he had at least let the majority go.

"Ok," she said at last.

"You're never going to stop worrying about them, are you?" Brandon asked, looking at the table. She only shook her head. "You're stubborn, but so am I. I'm never going to stop, Caitlyn; no matter how much you insist, this world is mine for the taking and I'll do whatever I want with it."

"I know," she said, masking her sadness. "But I still think it's a world in which most people could live."

He looked at her for a long time before he merely shrugged and made a dismissive gesture, and she suppressed her anger at his nonchalance. Their food came before she bothered to say anything, though. They were almost done eating when a group of ten people walked into the dinner, and both she and Brandon tensed immediately. As if to confirm her fear, one of them saw them and gaped.

"Brightburn?!" The woman exclaimed, causing all her companions to turn towards them.

It was Caitlyn's turn to gape when all of them knelt in unison. She saw Brandon smirk in the corner of her eye.

"Guess that guy wasn't lying," Brandon whispered.

"The one from the other group?" She whispered back.

"Yeah, seems like these guys like going to Brightburn."

"Is that why you wanted to go too?"

"One of the reasons," he explained. "Wanted to check how trustworthy these people are. If the other guy wasn't lying then we were bound to find more groups."

"I see..."

"Master!" The woman yelled, trying to get their attention. "We were on our way to..."

"Brightburn, yes," Brandon interrupted. "I know the drill. And right now I have bigger issues to attend, farewell."

Caitlyn didn't even have time to snort at Brandon's usage of the antiquated word before he had lifted her piggyback and flown away from the dinner, ignoring the check. They made it to Brightburn within the hour, but she never actually walked into town. Brandon dropped her in the middle of one of the nearby forests and disappeared before she could even ask him why, but he came back in seconds to place a gigantic rock in front of her.

"What are you...?" He disappeared again, only to come back with another huge rock which he put behind her. "Wait!"

"What?" He asked, already hovering up to leave again.

"What are you doing?!" She asked, absolutely bewildered.

"What I'm gonna do will take hours. I don't want anyone getting to you during that time," he explained, and was gone again in a blink.

He repeated the action a few other times, ignoring her further questions, until she was completely encased by rocks in all directions. Thankfully she could see some light filtering through the cracks, so at least she wasn't going to asphyxiate. She had already grown tired of trying to find a way out or moving the rocks -she really was starting to feel like she had been locked inside a tomb- when he returned to retrieve her hours later, a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

"Don't do that again!" She exclaimed upon seeing him. "That was terrifying!"

He snorted, but otherwise his smug expression didn't change.

"Ok, what happened?" She asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"I've sent a message."

"... What?" She gawked at him when it became obvious he wasn't going to elaborate, still looking entirely proud of himself.

"I'll show you," he said, and they took off. Up they went, and up, and up. Caitlyn was getting scared, and she was freezing. She was about to protest when Brandon finally stopped.

"Look down," he said.

It was... Incredible, maybe horrible too, but it was truly impressive. Brandon had burnt Brightburn, but not all of it, he had been methodical in his selection. He had burnt constructions and trees in a pattern, and from their altitude, the pattern was pretty clearly his Double B symbol, written in fire across miles. It was the first time she truly understood what he said all that time ago, that he saw the world as a canvas.

"Wow," she said.

"I know. They should know that this town is mine, and, if removing that tracker is not enough, maybe this will let them know to stop following us; they should know that I can repeat it anywhere."


	35. His Ambitions

They traveled Europe. For actually crossing the Atlantic, Brandon simply repeated what he did in Honolulu and secured a private flight for Caitlyn, though this time he didn't accompany her, choosing instead to fly outside the plane just in case they were intercepted by fighter jets again. He didn't need to worry though, for this time the government didn't butt in and let them complete the flight to London.

The more time he spent in Europe, the more the news about him increased. Not shockingly, the news about her increased too, for people were able to spot her wherever he was. The government might no longer have known where they were all the time, but it was difficult to hide, specially given that he had gone back to attacking landmarks, and he didn't even restrict himself to religious sites anymore. She had stopped bothering to take pictures after a while, for the pictures she took tended to be the last ones ever taken of the given place. She managed to get him to spare a few places, such as Stonehenge, but she was unsuccessful far more often.

As such, she found herself seeing London's eye, the Arc de Triumphe, Peter the Great's statue in Saint Petersburg, the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, among others, burn to the ground. She had always wanted to visit Europe, and even though she enjoyed knowing the new places, seeing them desecrated made her regret it. It was no use telling Brandon, though, he insisted in that they were just places and that humans should never think themselves or their creations safe, there was nothing above him. The Auschwitz memorial was another place she saw burn to the ground, and she was disturbed at the implications of Brandon destroying a memento to the horrors that humans could cause.

"Why this place?" She had asked, looking at the fiery ruins through her mask. "People don't love this place."

"I don't care if they love it or not, it's important to them," Brandon said from beside her, the flames reflecting on his eyes. His new hood no longer covered his face because he had found that he liked people fearing _him_ and not only the monster he projected before. She had been successful so far in resisting the urge of telling him he looked like a bad Red Riding Hood cosplay; that would only make him wear a hooded mask again and she was glad that it was gone.

"Well, it's important for a reason..." She started.

"Yes, that they fear what they can do. I can do so much more," he said.

And that's exactly why she was disturbed. She shuddered. "And are you going to?"

He turned towards her. "What if I do?"

She looked back at him. She held his stare for a long time before she finally looked away. "It will make me very unhappy."

That's about the best she could say, she was long past threatening to kill herself or even threatening to leave him; they both knew she was never going to and he wouldn't let her even if she tried it. But she could be honest, millions dying at his hands would make her miserable.

He smirked at her response and looked back at the ruins, before uttering his usual response. "Up to them."

For her fifteenth birthday, he took her to the alps in Switzerland, where he scared some resort owners into giving them a cabin. They flew across the mountains some and he let her actually appreciate the views for a while and she was thankful for it, but she still spent half the time worrying that he would destroy something. She worried for nothing, though, they spent most of the day relaxing and there wasn't much for him to destroy anyway, it seemed like he had decided to spare her witnessing any destruction for her birthday. That night, they were sitting in front of the cristal wall of the cabin, which allowed them to see the stars above the mountains. It was still winter, but the thermostat thankfully worked without a hitch. She sighed contentedly and looked at Brandon.

She didn't like admitting it to him for it just fueled his ego, but he grew more handsome every day. While she was certain she had reached her full height because now she was as tall as her mother was, he was still growing, and now had several inches on her. While she wasn't fat by any means and she was actually more than alright with her figure and, in fact, she knew he liked that she was soft to the touch, judging by all the squishing of her ass and breasts he did; his body became harder with each passing month. His abs were now more defined, his chest more solid while his arms and legs were thicker. By the time he was sixteen, he would look like and would be as tall as an olympic athlete, and sometimes that mere thought left her hot and bothered. And that was only his body, his face was becoming more defined, chiseled; he had lost most of his baby fat, revealing that he had defined jaw and cheekbones, and he now left his dark bangs fall to his eyes, which itself both highlighted the green of their natural color and made the red of his power even more ominous. Conversely, his voice was getting deeper, a big bonus as far as she was concerned.

He turned to look at her at the same time she looked back out the window, and out the corner of her eye she could see that he was looking her up and down exactly as she had just done to him. His eyes lingered on her breasts and she tried unsuccessfully to keep down a smile and blush. At her reaction, he wordlessly stood up and, to her shock, lifted her in his arms to carry her to the bed, where they proceeded to make out.

She was quite enjoying herself, until she noticed that he was moving to remove her bottoms. They touched each other often, but it was an unspoken agreement that they left most of their clothes on, if only to avoid temptation, so feeling him pulling down her pajama pants shook her into breaking the kiss.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Getting this out of the way," he said without even looking at her, choosing instead to kneel on the bed to complete the task.

"What?! No!" She exclaimed, and immediately jumped away.

He seemed shocked for a second before he frowned. "Why not?"

"What do you mean 'why not'? We keep them on!" She answered, blushing furiously.

"But... you're fifteen now," he stated, his frown deepening.

She was tempted to ask him what that had to with anything, until she remembered their talk before she met with Michelle, causing her face to turn even redder. "What? ...But... Wait... What?"

He only arched an eyebrow and smirked, and he clearly thought he had won the argument for he approached her again. She slapped his hands away, ignoring how it felt like slapping concrete, and blurted out, "I said I would consider it!"

 "Come on, you will like it," he said, coming in for another kiss.

"No! Wait! I am fifteen, but you are not! You're still fourteen for another month and a half!" She was thankful to her brain for coming up with that loophole.

"Unlike you, I don't care," he said, moving to nuzzle her neck.

"But I do! I don't want to feel like a pervert!" She exclaimed, unable to keep the triumphant smile from her face.

He lifted his head and frowned at her. "Are you being serious right now?"

"Yes," she said, giving him her best defiant look.

He dropped on top of her and buried his face on the pillow below her head, letting out a frustrated grunt. She managed not to chuckle, though only barely. She was still very much aware of his dick pressing against her thigh anyway.

"Fine," he said at last. "Can we try something new at least?"

"Like what?" She asked with suspicion.

His only answer was to smile wolfishly and kneeling on the bed again, his hands once again going to the hem of her pajama pants. She grabbed them.

"I just said no!"

"Don't worry, I won't fuck you... Unless you ask me to," he added with an indecent wink.

Tentatively, she lifted her hands, only to regret it when he yanked down both pants and panties in the same motion.

"Brandon!" She exclaimed, quickly trying to cover her privates, but he grabbed her hands and pulled them away.

"Shhh, I won't fuck you, I swear, and you will like this," he said, only glancing at her eyes for a moment before he looked back between her legs.

Her next protest died on her throat when, to her utter shock, he lowered his head towards her crotch. Instead of the "stop" she was going for, she let out a throaty moan when she felt his tongue lapping at her. Instinctively, and almost to her shame, she spread her legs to give him better room.

"Damn, your pussy is already wet," he said in a husky tone, voicing her own thoughts. He didn't say anything afterwards and let his tongue and fingers do the talking, the only sound in the room being her intermittent moans. He licked at her lips, tried to put his tongue as deep as it could go, touched her clit a little bit with his fingers, put a finger inside her while he kept on licking. When his other hand sneaked up her belly, below her shirt, to grab one of her breasts, it all became too much, and she lost herself in the sensations, unable to focus in any particular action he was doing.

"Ow!" She said when his tongue brushed a little too forcefully against her clitoris.

"Sorry," he said, lifting his head to look at her eyes, she felt a shudder at noticing the obvious moisture surrounding his mouth. "First time doing this. You want me to stop?"

"No!" She exclaimed a little too quickly, causing him to smirk. She looked away in embarrassment. "Just... Go a bit easier."

"Got it," he said and back down he went.

It didn't take her long to get off, specially once two of his fingers moved more quickly inside her at the same time he flicked his tongue at her clitoris. She tried to suppress the scream but couldn't, when a wave of pleasure irradiated from her pussy to the rest of her body.

"Oh, God!" She moaned when she felt herself coming down.

She looked at him, kneeling on the bed in front of her in all his shirtless, smirking glory. "Told you you'd like it."

He then looked down at his groin and then back at her, but he didn't say anything. He was leaving the choice to her, and she found herself wanting to return the favor.

"Hmmm, lie down?" She said, unable to hold his gaze. He didn't seem to care about her embarrassment and was all too happy to oblige, even sparing her the awkwardness of undressing him by pulling down his boxer shorts himself.

She looked at his dick, still hard and resting on his abs, which were less noticeable in his current position. She quickly grabbed it, that much she was used to; it was the next step she had no idea about.

"Hmmm..." She stammered, looking shyly to his eyes, that were fixated on her hand around his dick. "Let me know when you... Hmmm... I mean... I'm not ready to... To..."

"Swallow?" He asked. "Sure, no problem."

She blushed furiously and looked at him, aghast. "How can you talk about this like that?"

"I've watched porn, Caitlyn," he said with a pointed look.

"Oh," she whispered, looking back down. That explained why he was so eager. Well, somewhat.

She stared at it for a moment longer and, feeling her embarrassment being replaced by an odd curiosity, she lowered her head and slowly took him in her mouth. He immediately let out a gasp, which encouraged her into taking even more of him. A couple of inches later, though, her gag reflex deemed that enough of him was inside her and, at that point, she started moving up and down. She had expected to be grossed out, but she actually found herself liking doing this to him, if nothing else just for the fact that he was clearly enjoying it a lot. She even tried to beat back her gagging and getting him deeper, but she didn't have much time to experiment because not even two minutes later he poked at her shoulder.

"Caitlyn... I'm..." He choked out.

To her own surprise, though, her curiosity beat hear earlier trepidation, and she continued, until she heard him groan before she felt... it going almost directly to her throat.  _Now_ she felt a little grossed out, and gagged around him, but his elated reaction kept her in place.

"Fuck, yes!" Brandon exclaimed, eyes closed and breathing shallowly, one of his hands lying gently in the back of her head. Thankfully, he didn't push her down.

She then raised her head and looked at him, and he looked back at her with a lazy smirk. She went to the bathroom, trying not to be too obvious about it, and rinsed her mouth before she peed. When she went back to the room, she put her panties back on, and that's when she noticed that he was still naked.

"... Aren't you going to get dressed?" She asked, blushing a little.

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p'.

She looked at her discarded pajama bottoms and then joined him in the bed in just her shirt and panties. He pulled her to him, and she was all too aware of the flimsy piece of clothing separating them. Nonetheless, she fell asleep quickly after that.

The next morning, when they were surfing wikipedia, among other sites, in the laptop he had stolen to go over the subjects they were supposed to be studying if they were still in school, he said, "we're going to Greece next."

"Great," she deadpanned without looking away from the computer. "What heritage are we going to lose next? The Parthenon?"

"Maybe," he smirked. "But mostly I want to see if I can find that Witch you talked about. We've gone over all of Europe and she hasn't shown up. What's up with that?"


	36. His Match

The Parthenon was now a pile of ruins, though she wasn't sure whether Brandon had destroyed it just for the sake of mocking her for the comment she had made back in Switzerland, or he truly was planning to destroy it, or just out of sheer boredom. They had been in Greece for a month, mostly because it was the place that the Witch had attacked the most frequently, but there was still no sign of her.

"Seriously, where the fuck is she?" He asked, floating in the air a few feet to her left.

"Don't know, all I've found is pamphlets warning about her and about you," she said, waving a couple of them. Most of the ones she had found all over Europe were in the country's respective official language, but, thankfully, she had also found some that also had their text in english.

"What do they say?" He asked.

"Not much, mostly to be careful. About the Witch, this one says that she only attacks men so guys should try not to walk around alone; if nothing else, because she might avoid the hassle of attacking multiple people. This one about you says to run as soon as you're spotted and not to try engaging..." She paused with a gulp before continuing. "And also not to approach me. Apparently that part are instructions coming directly from the US government."

He smirked. "They learned their lesson, good."

"Or they're bidding their time," she suggested, hoping she was wrong.

He shrugged. "If they try something, I'll kill them all."

She let out a sigh, but made no comment on his words, instead turning away from the destroyed ancient building and asking, "anyway, what now?"

"I don't know... You think she's scared of me?" He asked, his frown being slowly replaced by a self-satisfied smirk.

"I don't know, probably," she answered. It was as good a guess as any. "Maybe she can tell you're not human and she only wants to attack human males."

"Could be. Maybe I should take some guys and leave them somewhere, she might go for them..." He mused.

For a moment she considered the possibility, but quickly shook her head rejecting those ugly thoughts. A better idea, more in line with her pacifist side, occurred to her. "Really? So you'll become her errand boy?"

"What?!" He exclaimed, glaring at her.

"I mean, if you're looking for victims for her, that's how it would look..."

"Whatever. Fine, guess there's no point staying here. Fucking waste of time," he grumbled before lifting her and taking off.

"Where are we going next?"

"I don't know, really. Maybe Italy?" He offered.

She immediately pictured, in her mind, the whole city of Venice burning and a shudder ran down her spine. She had managed to talk him out of Italy till then, but they were running out of European countries to visit instead. She needed a little time to think of something so she put her mouth next to his ear. "Can we decide tomorrow? I kinda wanna go to the bedroom."

He didn't need much convincing after that. However, after he fell asleep, once again naked while she was on her shirt and panties, she still hand't figured out what to say. Maybe it was pointless, as much as she liked everything she read about Italy, Brandon was going to attack it again sooner or later; little reason to put it off. Then, as if her luck had finally decided to turn around, the cell phone she didn't use --the one that had belonged to that cultist who seemed way too interested in Brandon-- lighted up with a message. She couldn't tell who exactly was sending it, as the chat was entirely anonymous, but she quickly forgot her sleepiness regardless.

**Cultist: Master?**

She had no idea what to say. Should she use her name? Should she just mention that Brandon was sleeping? How had they called her that time? Lady? She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

**Caitlyn: This is his lover.**

She made a face at the word she typed, specially since they weren't even _technically_ lovers yet, but figured that "girlfriend" was probably too casual a word for someone they considered a god. She thought of using 'mate', but that only made her think of Bishop and the rest of B-2, which in turn made her insides squirm.

**Cultist: My lady, an honor to speak to you.**

There it was. She chose to ignore the title; she was more curious about why they were contacting them now anyway.

**Caitlyn: What do you need?**

**Cultist: We just wanted to let the Master know that we finally have a place we think it's secure enough to host you, my lady.**

She stared at the message. In all their travelling during the past few months, she had almost forgotten that that's what they had asked the cultists for. Whatever the case, she needed to talk to Brandon.

**Caitlyn: Understood, I'll let him know.**

**Cultist: This is our utmost pleasure, my lady.**

"Damn weirdos," she muttered, putting the phone back down and turning around to shake Brandon awake.

"Hmmm what? What is it?" He asked, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Your cults just reached out," she informed.

He stared at her for a moment, as if trying to make sense of her words, before talking, "ah, and what did they want?"

"Apparently, they have a place for me to live at last."

He frowned. "Do you still want that?"

"Do you not?"

"Well, we haven't had any trouble the past months..." He pointed out.

"Well, no, but I think it's nice to have a place that we can go to."

"The whole world is that place, we can go anywhere."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I know, but I mean, don't you want to have a specific place where you can go and, I don't know, live?"

It was clear that her words hadn't even registered. "No, not really. I've liked travelling with you."

"And I have liked it too..."

"So? I don't think you're in danger anymore."

She pondered his words and decided that he wasn't wrong but still, she knew she wouldn't be able to keep up with his pace forever. Eventually she was going to have to stay in one place, at least every now and then, and she told him that.

He looked up at the ceiling. "Fine, I guess there's no harm in taking a look at this place."

"Good," she smiled before texting the cultists asking for coordinates.

**Cultist: It's in Brightburn, my lady.**

She could only stare at the phone once more before wordlessly passing it to Brandon.

"That's fucking stupid," he said and she only nodded in agreement.

He quickly tapped something on the phone and waited for an answer, which arrived only a minute later. He read it and handed her the phone.

**Brandon: That's unwise, that will always be the first place anyone would look for her.**

"'Unwise'?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Hey, didn't you say not to answer their questions because gods don't? Figured I'd go a step further and also talk like a douchebag too," he explained, smiling at her.

"Oh, I see," she looked down and suppressed a smile of her own, her belly fluttering at how in tune they were. Well, in some areas at least.

**Cultist: That's what we thought at first, Master. But after what you did with your symbol, the government cleared not only the town but the whole surrounding area. Your followers who are infiltrated in project B-2 assure us that there are no plans by the military to move back in; the suits interpreted your display as your claiming the town and they are wary of defying you by attempting anything in it. With that knowledge, we figured that we could move in.**

**Cultist: We've prepared a watch covering the whole area to make sure nobody will go inside unnoticed. We've also procured drones and satellites that constantly monitor the town so nobody drops from the air.**

"How did they get satellites? And drones?" She whispered.

He shrugged. "It would be impossible that all of them are stupid. Probably some rich guys have decided to join the cults, if nothing else so I don't attack them."

"If that's it, it's kind of smart. Scummy, but smart."

"What do you think?" He asked.

"I don't know. I mean, if it's true, it's not that bad an idea."

He smirked. "How they put it, I kind of like it, actually. How best to show the world that they're completely powerless against me than just letting them know exactly where I live, but with them being completely unable to do anything about it."

She chuckled almost despite herself. "It _is_ a great 'screw you'."

"I know," he said, taking back the phone and tapping something. He handed it back to her and then dropped back on the bed.

**Brandon: Very well. I'll let you know the time in which we can go see it.**

**Cultist: As you wish, Master.**

"And when is that time?" She asked.

"After I've found that damn Witch, now come back here," he replied, not even waiting for her to put the phone back in the bedside table before grabbing her in his arms and pulling her close.

They were falling back asleep when they heard a scream just on the street outside the hotel they were staying at. In the time it took her to run to the window still in her underwear, Brandon had quickly dressed again, but she couldn't see anything in the night. Brandon moved her to the side and hovered out the window, looking in all directions. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of golden light and after it cleared, Caitlyn saw that Brandon was now wrapped in some golden rope.

"What...?" Brandon started, but then he was thrown upwards, the rope quickly unrolled as he flew aimlessly into the night.

"Brandon!" Caitlyn yelled, but she could no longer even see him, and another golden flash coming from the building in front of her caught her eye.

Atop the lower building, standing just on the border of the roof, there was a woman, fully clad in golden armor. Caitlyn barely had time to gasp before the woman crossed the street in a single jump and perched herself on her window. Caitlyn fell on her butt and looked up at the Witch, who had now walked inside the room.

She was quite tall, a little taller than Brandon, and she was beautiful, almost impossibly beautiful. Caitlyn had always been proud of her looks, but before this woman she felt as pretty as the average frog. The woman was also muscular, her body clearly honed by a lifetime of exercise, but her strapping frame didn't detract from her looks at all. The woman was sneering down at her.

"Well this is a shame," the Witch said in an accent that Caitlyn couldn't place, but it wasn't terribly different from the greeks who had been able to speak english at her.

"Wh... What?" Caitlyn asked.

"You're just... a human," the Witch said, her expression of disgust deepening.

"Ye... Yes?" Caitlyn wasn't sure what the Witch was getting at, but she was still too scared to say a full sentence.

"He's not."

"He... what?"

As an answer, there was only another bright golden flash around them and soon Caitlyn found herself bound by another --or probably the same, she couldn't really tell-- shining robe.

"What are you doing?!" She screamed.

"Quiet!" The Witch ordered, slapping Caitlyn. Actually, Caitlyn wished it had only been a slap, because her whole body was thrown to the ground by a casual movement of the Witch's hand.

"Pathetic," the Witch commented, and then Caitlyn felt herself being lifted and carried out the window.

Caitlyn frantically looked everywhere and soon she saw the twin red orbs coming at full speed towards them, but she only had time to scream because the Witch had jumped again, covering a huge distance before landing in the nearby trees, making Caitlyn lose sight of Brandon.


	37. His Struggle

"Let me go!" Caitlyn yelled, not that it helped her.

The Witch was still running nonstop, clearly knowing exactly where they're going, but Caitlyn couldn't pay much attention, slung over the Witch's shoulders as she was. The position, the whiplash caused by the speed and the fact that she was still bound by that weird lasso had left her sore all over, and she couldn't even see their path, she could barely see more than the Witch's armored back.

After what seemed like hours, at the crack of dawn, the Witch finally stopped and unceremoniously tossed Caitlyn to the ground, eliciting a pained yelp. Before Caitlyn could gather her bearings, she found herself free of the rope and she awkwardly sat up, rubbing at the spots she felt were the most sore. She finally looked around her, only to find herself in some strange ruins, not unlike those of  the Parthenon -before Brandon demolished them anyway- but they were surrounded by forests, and the mountain to the east probably made it very difficult to spot them. In fact, she doubted anyone would come here unless they were specifically looking for these ruins, specially given that they were little more than a few stone pillars tossed around haphazardly.

Once she was acquainted with her surroundings, she turned towards the Witch, only to find her walking around the ruins, whispering. Caitlyn tried to listen to what the Witch was saying, but the little she could make up was clearly gibberish. After the Witch was done walking around the ruins, she went to sit atop one of the pillars, still completely ignoring Caitlyn. Caitlyn opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again when she felt it. As soon as the Witch had finished the circle around the ruins, something happened to the air; it felt heavy, as if it had suddenly grown denser and Caitlyn found herself having to consciously breath, if only so to get the air to pass through her lungs. She felt heavy herself and when before she had wanted to stand up and run, now she didn't feel like she had the strength to move her arms.

"What is this place?" She asked at last.

"Sacred," the Witch answered, her eyes fixated on the sky.

"What... What's going on here?" Caitlyn asked.

The Witch finally turned toward her and arched an eyebrow. "Only the gods can thrive in this place."

"What?" Caitlyn asked, gaping at her.

The Witch made a gesture of disgust and looked back up, not even bothering to answer. Caitlyn, however, was too scared to be angry, specially once she noticed that the Witch was starting to look different or, more exactly, it was as if Caitlyn was looking at her differently. Her appearance hadn't changed, but she looked slightly blurred, as if Caitlyn was looking at her through a glass. Things were getting weirder by the second.

"Why... Why did you bring me here?"

"I've been watching you," the Witch answered, still not looking at her. "He'll come for you."

Brandon, she was luring Brandon there, but why?

"What do you want with him?" Caitlyn asked, suspicion creeping through her otherwise frightened tone.

"I want to confirm..." The Witch said, though it looked more as if she was talking to herself than to Caitlyn.

"Confirm what?" Caitlyn asked, she was starting to get annoyed at not getting her questions answered. That the Witch stayed silent didn't help her mood at all. "Fine, if it's no bother to you then, I'll leave."

With a titanic effort she did manage to stand up, but she could barely walk a step before she felt the little energy she had mustered leaving her, and she fell on her knees.

"You will only leave this place if I allow it," the Witch said and Caitlyn shot her a glare, but otherwise said nothing else.

The hours passed, and Caitlyn grew bored, but still she couldn't even gather the energy to walk around so she decided to try to sleep... Only for sleep to elude her, she counted to two hundred sheep and she was still awake. That's when she noticed that, despite that she had barely slept the night before, she didn't feel tired. She didn't have any energy, and could barely move, but her body itself didn't feel tired, just heavy.

"What is happening to me?" She asked after a while.

"You're not allowed in this place, your human body is too weak to withstand it," the Witch answered.

She was starting to get insulted at the Witch's sneering at the fact that she was human, but chose not to deign the dismissal with an answer. "What did you do? When we arrived, you walked around..."

"I called upon the blessings of the gods so that only them may dwell in this place."

"Ah," Caitlyn retorted, narrowing her eyes. "So that of humans being too weak for this place is bullshit, you just did something so that only you feel fine here."

The Witch glared at her, but only for a moment, her eyes were back on the sky just as quickly. Caitlyn glared back, before lying down again. Whatever it was, maybe if she saved energy soon she'd feel well enough to at least stand. And so the hours passed, and the night came back, by the time Caitlyn had decided to start counting the stones in the place, but the last lights of twilight alerted her to the fact that she hadn't eaten... as well as to the fact that she wasn't hungry.

She rubbed her belly and looked back at the Witch. "Why am I not tired or hungry?"

The Witch made another disgusted face and looked at Caitlyn as if she were a bug. "The gods don't want you in this place, but they won't kill you... unless you displease them."

Caitlyn went over the words and, together with her earlier realization that this was just a spell, figured that whatever it was that the Witch had done around them, it was also causing her body not to have its usual needs. She was glad, it was obvious that Brandon was struggling to find the place, and she'd rather not starve to death until then.

The hours went by excruciatingly slowly, and Caitlyn started singing, if for no other reason just to replace the nearly oppressive silence. The Witch didn't seem to mind, and Caitlyn sang for hours, taking notice of the fact that her throat wasn't sore, nor she was thirsty. She wasn't cold either, but she was by then far too bored to be freaked out at the magic the Witch was working on the place. She still could barely move anyway so it was, all in all, a sucky deal.

The hours turned turned into days and, by the time a week had rolled around, Caitlyn was ready to snap.

"Please! Let me go! He clearly couldn't find this place!" She pleaded when the Sun was getting low for the seventh day.

The Witch then smiled at her, but before Caitlyn could ask why, she heard the loud crack and the whole ground trembled. She quickly looked at the source, and saw Brandon standing up in between the cloud of dust he himself had raised when he crashed into the ground.

"Brandon!" She exclaimed.

"Caitlyn," he whispered, his red eyes fixed upon the Witch. "Are you alright?"

"Yes! I'm fine!" She spoke quickly, she had to warn him. "Brandon! This place! She did some..."

Before she was done talking, though, the Witch's lasso reappeared, but this time Brandon was ready and blocked it with his arm. This, however, only caused the rope to tie around his arm and Brandon barely had time to look at it before the lasso threw him to the ground. The Witch then stood up from the position she hadn't moved in a week, and Brandon stood up at the same time.

"What the fuck is this thing?!" Brandon yelled, but more than that Caitlyn noticed his eyes. Brandon wasn't looking at the rope; he was looking around him, as if trying to find something. Caitlyn gasped at the realization, whatever the Witch had done to the place, it was affecting him too. "What is happ...?"

The Witch didn't let him finish before she jumped at him, punching him across the face and throwing him back to the ground, but Brandon quickly jumped back up and went to punch her, only for the Witch to block his fist with one hand. She smirked, and threw Brandon over her head and back to the ground.

Brandon, however, jumped up and hovered in the air. Caitlyn couldn't help but notice that he wasn't moving as fast as he usually did, she could see all his movements even though he didn't seem to be moving slowly on purpose. However, she still hoped that he was moving at a normal speed deliberately and that he was just toying with the Witch, much like he had done with AN-3. He then shot a heat beam towards the Witch and Caitlyn breathed a sigh of relief at seeing that that, at least, did manage to push her back.

Her relief was short-lived, though, for the Witch quickly dug her heels on the ground and resisted the beam, blocking it by crossing her arms in front of her, in an X shape. Brandon yelled and then the beam disappeared at the same time Brandon floated down. To her horror, and for the first time since she knew him, she could see that Brandon was winded, breathing quickly and noticeably. He had moved his hand to his chest and was looking down, clearly unfamiliar with the sensation.

Before she could yell at him to go away, though, the Witch had attacked again, though this time Brandon managed to block her fist with his hand and throw a punch, which she blocked in the same way. They stayed like that for a few seconds, each with a fist in the other's hand, before the Witch ducked and gave a sweeping kick, knocking Brandon off his feet and throwing him to the ground yet again.

"Brandon!" Caitlyn yelled. "Go away! She did something to the place! I can't even mo...!"

"Silence!" The Witch yelled, but Brandon took advantage of her distraction and grabbed her arm, throwing her to the floor for the first time at the same time he jumped away and landed back, one knee on the ground, a few feet to Caitlyn's left. The Witch, however, was back on her feet, completely unfazed and her lasso appeared back on her hand before she threw at Brandon, forming a disk that ensnared Brandon, who didn't move in time to dodge it. The Witch pulled at the lasso and Brandon was thrown toward her, not unlike an animal in a rodeo. In a fluid motion, the Witch brought Brandon to her and grabbed him by the throat.

Brandon grabbed her wrist but she just punched him on the belly to keep him still. She then looked at him intently and that's when his eyes shone again, but the Witch simply put her other hand over his eyes, preventing him from firing. The Witch looked him up and down, and Caitlyn couldn't help but notice that, despite the fact that she had him lifted by the throat, his feet were almost touching the ground because she wasn't that much taller than him so, even though Brandon seemed to be at her mercy, the Witch didn't look as intimidating as she probably hoped she would. Not that that helped Caitlyn's nerves at all, she couldn't understand how Brandon had barely even put on a fight, and was horrified at whatever the Witch had done to be strong enough to weaken Brandon this much.

"How... disappointing." the Witch said at last. "I thought you were a god."

To Caitlyn's shock, Brandon stopped struggling, but before she could yell at him, she saw that his hands had gone to the lasso. She faintly heard the Witch's chuckle, but it stopped quickly when the Witch noticed that Brandon was slowly peeling the lasso off him, even though it was obviously taking a huge effort on his part. Caitlyn looked at the Witch and for a split second she was sure she saw alarm in her eyes, but her confident smirk came back just as fast.

"Interesting. You are no god, but you sure seem to have spirit," the Witch said and then, just when Brandon finally let the lasso fall on the floor, she moved Brandon towards her and, to Caitlyn's utter shock, kissed him right on the lips. This itself seemed to shock Brandon into momentarily stopping his struggle and, before either of the teenagers could tell what was happening, the Witch had broken the kiss and given such a powerful kick to Brandon's chest that Caitlyn felt a gust of wind coming from the impact. Brandon was sent flying, crashing into multiple trees before he was out of sight.

"Brandon!" Caitlyn exclaimed, and she ran in the direction in which he had been thrown. She was so focused on following him, it wasn't until later that she realized that her strength had come back and the Witch was nowhere to be found.


	38. His Solace

"Brandon! Brandon!"

Caitlyn was running non-stop, trying to follow the trail of fallen trees, tripping every so often and getting back up. However, as the sun set, the task became considerably more difficult, and she was starting to get scared. She had no idea where she even was and what kind of wild animals were in these forests, she also didn't know how far she was from civilization. If she didn't find Brandon she could easily starve to death in here.

"Brandon! Where are you?!" She continued yelling even as she slowed down to a walk when she stumbled upon a stream. She had grown so thirsty that she didn't even care about the water being dirty, she just crouched down and drank to her heart's content.

After looking for him for a few more hours, she was starting to feel really exhausted. She refused to believe he was dead because, even if whatever that bitch did had weakened him, she never actually saw him bleeding so she held on hope. She felt a breeze and hugged herself before looking up at the sky, thankful for the crescent moon that night. She didn't have the phones on her so she couldn't tell the hour, but it was probably past midnight already, and she wondered whether she should rest and continue looking for Brandon at dawn.

For a split second, she dreaded that he had actually abandoned her, but dismissed the notion quickly. What reason would he have to do that after all that had happened so far?

"Goddamnit! Brandon! Answer me!" She yelled one last time before sitting down in front of a tree in frustration.

That's one she saw it, a brief but unmistakable red flickering to her left. She sprang to her feet again and, despite the pain in her legs, ran in that direction. Soon, she found herself in the middle of a clearing, and with the weak light of the moon she saw him. He was sitting in front of a tree, hugging one of his legs with one arm while the other leg was extended in front of him, his other arm lying limply at his side. His clothes were torn, and he wasn't looking at her, instead staring keenly at the ground in between them. Even with this light, though, she could tell that he wasn't actually seeing anything; he seemed lost in thought.

"Hey," she whispered.

He didn't answer, still staring at the ground. She wasn't even sure he'd heard her. She approached him one step at a time, but even when she was standing on the place he was staring at, his eyes remained fixated, paying her no mind.

"Are you alright?" She tried again.

Still no answer. Sighing, she took the last two steps and sat next to him, before placing a hand on top of the knee he was hugging, still getting no reaction. She wondered then if maybe he was hurt after all, but she looked him over another time and could see no injuries. She grabbed his left hand, the one lying at his side, only to check if his arm was broken or something. She got her answer quickly when he removed his hand from below hers and placed it on his left leg.

"Brandon," she whispered, moving her hand towards the side of his face, but he shook his head once. Dropping her hand back, she exhaled and crossed her arms. "What's this, then? Aren't you gonna talk to...?"

She interrupted herself when she saw a tear running down his cheek, which he quickly wiped away with an annoyed face before resuming his impassive expression.

She was starting to understand what the problem was, and chastised herself for not seeing it sooner. "Is this because you... hmm... you..."

"Lost?" He whispered, and her silence was all the answer he needed. Instead of answering, though, he simply turned his head away from her, probably not wanting her to see him crying.

She rolled her eyes. "Brandon, please, once I spent all night with you crying on my lap."

He turned to look at her, his eyes red as burning coals, and she quickly looked down. Yeah, reminding him of the night he killed his parents was probably not the way to lift his spirits. She whispered "sorry" and he looked away again.

Sighing, she looked back up. "So, you lost. What's the big deal? It was bound to happen some..."

"No, it wasn't!" He exclaimed, his eyes flashing again. "I'm supposed to be superior, I'm supposed to be better than everyone else, I'm supposed to take..."

"This world, yeah, yeah, I know," she interrupted, resisting the urge to roll her eyes one more time. "I still think you're superior, though."

"Whatever," he said.

"Don't be an asshole," she said with a glare, and he only replied with a glare of his own. "Fine, if you don't care about what I think, then I won't say anything."

"I'm so glad to know my girlfriend has my back," he bit out.

"Seriously?" She was about to remind him for the umpteenth time about how she stuck by him despite all the awful things he did, but decided to bite her tongue instead. "Whatever, I wasn't saying it to flatter you anyway, douche. She did something to that place, I was sure you noticed when you arrived there."

He frowned at her words before whispering, "I felt weaker."

"So did I," she confirmed. "As soon as she took me there, she did this... ritual, and all of a sudden I felt heavy and weak. I also didn't feel sleepy or hungry. It was like that the whole week before you found us."

He didn't say anything, mulling over her words, so she continued. "She also said that the place was sacred and that only 'gods' could thrive in it. So maybe she can only do that thing in those ruins. Maybe that's why she wanted to fight you there."

He exhaled at last, but looked away again. "So I'm not a god is what you're saying."

She gaped at him and for a moment because she actually didn't know how to respond. She gathered her wits quickly, though. "That's not... how do we even know she wasn't lying?"

"It doesn't matter!" He yelled, glaring at her. "I don't care if it was planned or if she had prepared for it or not. She won! That's the problem!"

"Well then maybe next time _you_ should take _her_ by surprise!" She yelled back.

"Next time?" He asked, frowning.

"Yes? ... Wait, don't tell me that you're scared of her now," Caitlyn said, lifting an eyebrow.

"Fuck you, Caitlyn," he said, once again turning his head away.

"Seriously? You give up that easily? Even despite whatever magic she did, she wasn't able to hurt you. At least you don't seem hurt..."

"That's not the fucking point," he said, gritting his teeth.

"So for the first time you found someone you couldn't beat right away. What's the big deal? Don't you like a challenge?"

"I don't fucking care, just leave me alone!"

She was trying to have a normal conversation, but it was becoming increasingly clear that having been dispatched of that easily had clearly affected him deeply. She breathed and exhaled before speaking, "fine, what do you want me to do then?"

"I just told you, leave me alone," he whispered.

"I won't," she stated.

"Whatever," he said, his eyes remaining on the trees instead of looking at her.

"Brandon... Brandon, look at me."

Slowly, as if it was pain on his neck, he turned his head around and finally made eye contact wit her. This time, she did put her hand on his cheek and leaned her face towards his as she whispered, "I'm never leaving you alone."

She kissed him, softly. If her words weren't going to comfort him, maybe her touch could help. Evidently, he agreed, because he placed his hand on the back of her head and deepened the kiss before she could pull back. Soon, she found herself being pushed back until she was lying on the ground, Brandon on top of her still kissing her as if his life depended on it.

They kissed like that for a few minutes and Caitlyn couldn't help but notice that he seemed slightly thinner than before the Witch had kidnapped her and she wondered whether he had eaten anything during the week he was looking for her. Brandon's hands soon pushed all other thought away from her head, though, as they found their way under her shirt and down to her waistband. She was fairly used to that, what she wasn't used to was Brandon outright tearing away her shorts and underwear.

"Brandon!" She exclaimed, breaking the kiss.

"Sorry," he said, but his determined look made it obvious that he wasn't sorry at all. She had half a mind to protest further, in particular on what she was supposed to wear now, but his resuming the kiss made her stop caring quickly enough. However, he again surprised her when he pulled down his tattered pants.

"What... what are you doing?" She stammered.

"Please, Caitlyn, _please_..." Even though his face was directly above hers, he wasn't making eye contact, instead he was staring at a spot on her forehead; his lips were in a thin line and his whole face was tense. She stared at him for only a moment, but all thought of denying him quickly subsided. He needed her, and she found out that she couldn't refuse him, not then.

"Okay," she whispered at last.

She barely had gotten the word out when she felt him moving his hand down between them to position himself, and then he pushed. Immediately, she felt an intense stab of pain radiating from between her legs to the rest of her body. She honestly felt like she was being torn apart and she had to bury her face on Brandon's shoulder to cover her wince and the tear that escaped her left eye, but she couldn't do anything to keep herself from whimpering.

"Shit... sorry..." Brandon choked out, his voice trembling, and she could also feel that his whole body was tense. At first she thought that maybe it had been painful for him too, but a quick look at his closed eyes and his expression told her that it was really quite the opposite.

Her pain was slowly going down, but then he moved and made it surge back up, making her gasp. She whimpered again. "Please... Just let me... let me get used to it, please..."

"Okay..." He said, his voice hoarse, and he did stop moving, though it seemed to take him a lot of effort.

After a couple of minutes, she felt that her pain was low enough. She still felt stretched and sore, but at least it no longer felt like she was being split in two. Not missing that he hadn't stopped trembling, she moved her mouth to his ear and said, "okay."

On cue, he pulled back before pushing back in and Caitlyn once again felt pain, but far duller than before. She also noticed something else, something similar to when he put his fingers inside her, and she knew it could be more intense than his fingers if she weren't sore, but she still tried to concentrate on that sensation. Alas, before it could become actual pleasure, Brandon's movements became erratic and spastic, and then he pushed inside her with particular force and remained still, all his muscles taut.

" _Caitlyn_..." He choked out as he climaxed. While she hadn't enjoyed the experience nearly as much as he clearly did, she definitely liked how he said her name that time, as if she was the only thing in the world for him.

And then he collapsed on top of her and nearly crushed her to the ground. She didn't mind it much, though, and decided to enjoy the closeness until she could no longer breath. She remembered something then, as it was past midnight, and with a smile, she whispered to his ear, "happy birthday."

For the first time since she found him, he smiled too, his eyes still closed.


	39. His Partner

She was sitting sideways on his lap, still in the clearing in the middle of the forest, both of them completely naked. She was dozing off, snuggling into his arms and burying her face on his neck, but soon his hands started wandering again.

"Stop it," she said, half asleep.

"I don't want to," Brandon replied, his voice low, though his hands did stop moving.

"Come on, the sun is coming up and we've been going at it for hours, and I was walking through the forest for a while before that.  _You_ might not need rest;  _I_ do, so let me sleep for a bit," she slurred, exhaustion quickly claiming her.

"Fine." She barely heard him as she all but passed out.

She woke up hours later, assuming from how high the sun was in the sky, still feeling so tired she didn't even want to move even though she was awkwardly sleeping right on top of Brandon, who was breathing deeply, dead to the world. However, her rumbling stomach quickly let her know why she had woken up so she sat up with effort, trying to rub all her sore bits. Well, most of them.

"Brandon," she whispered, poking his chest, and then smiled when his own belly rumbled in his sleep. "Brandon, come on."

"Hmmwhat," he mumbled, rolling to his side, away from her.

"We gotta get out of here and eat something. I'm really hungry and you still look half starved. Also I really, _really_ need a shower. Actually, you do too," she informed, looking him up and down and quickly looking away with a blush.

He breathed deeply before sitting up, rubbing his eyes. Then he leered at her. "Another go before we leave?"

She surprised herself by actually considering it before quickly shaking her head to remove all lewd thoughts. "You're not getting any until we're clean, and in a bed," she stated, standing up to look for... her shirt, really. "Damn it, what am I supposed to cover myself with?"

"Here, use this," he said, handing her his torn cape after putting his pants back on.

She draped herself with it like a makeshift skirt, and was grateful to notice that none of the tears revealed any critical area. "You really didn't need to tear my clothes off."

He shrugged, looking at what was left of his shirt before throwing it away. "They were in my way."

Afterwards, he lifted her bridal style, this time at her insistence, and they took off.

As they were flying, she asked, "why did it take you so long to find us?"

"I don't know. I swear, I flew all over the Balkans, many times, but I couldn't see you anywhere from the sky. It was like a nightmare, I thought I was going crazy. Then I resorted to run, to go over every inch of land, and even then I still saw no sign of you. When I finally found you, I almost couldn't believe it, but I guess it was because the few times I passed that mountain, I never passed it in an angle that allowed me to see the ruins," he explained.

She went over his words. "Let's hope it's that and not some other of that Witch's tricks..."

"You think she can actually do magic?" Brandon asked, his eyes lost in the distance.

Caitlyn didn't know what to make of his expression. "I don't know, it sure seemed like magic. But I'm sure it's not limitless, she did seem to need to fight you there. I know that if you surprise her, things will go very differently."

He smiled and kissed her. "I know, I won't let her pick the ground next time."

They made it back to Athens about an hour later, but when Brandon made to go through the window of the room they had occupied before, they saw there was already someone in there.

"Fuckers, they should know to wait a week for me," Brandon muttered, flying through the window, causing the man who was lying on the bed, watching tv, to scream. "Go away."

The man didn't need to be told twice, and all but ran out the door. Caitlyn quickly surveyed the room and turned towards Brandon. "We need to get our stuff back."

"Relax, I can get us new clothes and a new computer," he said, already walking towards the bathroom. "You coming to sho..."

"No! Brandon, that's not it," Caitlyn said. "Our phones! We can't let them have that cultist's phone!"

"Why not?"

She gaped at him. "Really, do you want them to track us again?"

"I don't think that matters much anymore, does it?" He said, raising his eyebrows. "They know exactly where we'll be anyway, now come here."

"I guess," she whispered, grabbing his hand to follow him into the bathroom.

"What should we do know?" She asked later, as she was munching on a huge sandwich Brandon brought her from the kitchen. Really, he seemed to have raided the hotel's entire pantry, and was wolfing down food, mostly meat, like there was no tomorrow.

"Back to Brightburn," he answered, not looking up from his food.

"Really? Thought you were going to fight her again as soon as possible."

"I am, but first I need you somewhere safe. I don't intend to hold back against her and not only are you a distraction." He looked her up and down as he talked. "But also you could get hurt, or she could kidnap you again. I'd rather that not happened."

She bit the inside of her cheek. "What if that Brightburn base turns out to be a trap after all?"

"If they're stupid enough to try that after the message I sent, I will destroy not Washington, but New York. There are more people there," he stated as his eyes flared. He continued when he saw her opening her mouth. "Don't even bother, I'm not letting them take you again without punishment. I still feel I was too lenient last time. You can't talk me out of this."

She sighed. "Fine... but then can you do what we planned when we first found the cultists?"

"Sure, I'll stay for a while and make some way for you to alert me. But only for a short time, that bitch needs punishment too."

She smiled at that. "With that I can agree. Fine, let's do it."

After they were done eating, Brandon brought in new clothes for them. She noticed that he didn't bring her a mask, and asked him about that.

"What's the point anymore? Who you are is pretty much an open secret already."

She couldn't argue against that, and so they left for the airport, with she flying on his back without any concealment.

The flight back to the USA was uneventful, other than the news about her, with her name, increasing due to the photos taken of her at the Athens airport. Most of them were saying stuff that they had already said or implied before, only replacing "Brightburn's partner" with "Caitlyn Connor". She snorted when she saw a tabloid comparing her favorably with several teen stars.

"Figures even the gossip industry wants to get on Brandon's good side. Or maybe they just have no shame," she muttered to herself after skimming over the article.

She disconnected from the private plane's wireless service after that and looked out the window just in time to see Brandon passing right in front of it. He flew in circles around the plane, making sure they weren't being tailed from any direction. She watched a movie to pass the time, and as soon as it was over, the flight attendant let her know that they would be landing in Kansas City in thirty minutes.

"Thank you," she said and the flight attendant went back into the cockpit after giving her a forced smile. Cailtyn sighed, wondering if everyone was going to be afraid of her now that they had confirmed that she was indeed Brandon's girlfriend. Probably.

The first thing she noticed upon landing was the fact that the airport was crawling with soldiers and some tanks. And evidently Brandon noticed too for he went at them, but a voice clearly coming from the airport's sound system stopped him.

"Brandon Breyer!" Caitlyn faintly heard from her seat in the plane. She knew better than walking out into that mess. "We're not here to fight you or try anything against you. We're just here to make sure nobody is harmed!"

Caitlyn sighed at those people's inability to learn. She could practically hear Brandon's sardonic taunt in her mind: "And you really think you could stop me if I wanted to... 'harm' anybody?"

"We don't want any conflict with you," the voice spoke. "Just please, leave and we'll make sure that Caitlyn Connor isn't harmed."

Caitlyn facepalmed and muttered, "oh, no."

Sure enough, from her window she saw Brandon attacking. Well, seeing is an overstatement, he was moving so fast she saw him disappear and reappear at different places. The first thing he did was shooting a heat beam, sweeping over the soldiers camped in front of the plane, and she looked away, cleaning her tears, but she still was sure she could hear the screams. Steeling herself, she looked back and saw Brandon grabbing one tank, lifting it over his head and flying directly upwards before letting it fall to the ground, on top of another tank.

Some of the soldiers tried shooting at him, but every single one of them disappeared, only to fall on the ground, mangled. When she saw him obviously trying to carve his symbol on the ground amidst the still screaming soldiers, she finally had enough and quickly ran to the door of the plane.

"Open this!" She yelled at the flight attendant.

"There's no platform for you to walk down!" The man gaped at her.

"Open it! Maybe he can hear me from here!"

The man, who was looking appalled at the carnage -just as she looked, she saw three soldiers being thrown against the walls of a tower- finally obeyed and opened the door for her.

She breathed deeply and yelled. "Brandon!"

However, he chose that moment to crash into a communications tower and grab a piece of the wall, clearly intending to throw it at the remaining soldiers, so he didn't hear her. As he was giving chase slowly, evidently enjoying the fear he was causing, he passed relatively near the plane. She yelled again.

"What?!" He yelled back, still holding the piece of the wall above his head.

"Enough! Let's just leave!" She screamed.

"They talked about harming you, Caitlyn!" His eyes were red, and he was floating away.

"I'm sure they have learned her lesson, please!" She implored, letting the tears she was holding fall.

He looked from her to the retreating unit and back several times, then she saw him muttering something and throwing the piece of concrete and mortar away. He floated towards her.

He was covered in dust and blood, but she grabbed his face and kissed him, still crying.

"You promised!" She yelled. "You promised you wouldn't kill in front of me!"

He glared at her. "Okay, first, I never _promised_ ; I said 'I'll see what I can do'. Second, they were trying to threaten me through you. I can't allow that!"

"We could have just left like they said!"

"And let them think I'm going to do whatever they want me to? Fuck that!"

She glared at him for a moment, but then she felt a shudder at replaying in her mind what she had just seen. She buried her face on his chest and muttered, "let's just go, please."

"When? When the fuck are you going to learn?" He asked, she knew he was trying to sound annoyed, but there was a strain in his voice.

"Never. I will never stop thinking that people deserve to live and you shouldn't kill them. You can't talk me out of that," she rebuffed as she looked up.

To her surprise, he was smirking. "I know. Let's get out of here."

"Why are you smiling?" She asked, bewildered.

"I'm scared."

"Why?" She asked as they were flying away from the destroyed airport, in the direction of Brightburn. He wasn't making any sense.

"Of you."


End file.
